CLOSE
St. Mary's Seminary & University

Dr. Matthew J. Dugandzic

Dean of the School of Theology and Praeses of the Ecclesiastical Theological Faculty
Associate Professor of Moral Theology

B.Sc., Concordia University, Montreal
M.A., St. Joseph’s Seminary
Ph.D., The Catholic University of America
S.T.L., St. Mary’s Seminary & University

Download CV

Dr. Matthew Dugandzic joined the theology faculty at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in 2019 after completing a Ph.D. in moral theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. His dissertation, “A Thomistic Account of the Habituation of the Passions,” explores the ways in which people can develop virtuous affective inclinations.

Dr. Dugandzic’s scholarship focuses on medieval thought, especially Thomas Aquinas’s anthropology, psychology, and ethics. His work on the fomes peccati (“tinder for sin”) recently appeared in New Blackfriars, and his work in bioethics has appeared in National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. His current research focuses on the sources that Aquinas used in developing his understanding of virtue and on recovering ancient and medieval wisdom regarding economics in order to apply this wisdom to contemporary financial problems.

Dr. Dugandzic has taught courses in fundamental moral theology, bioethics, and Catholic social teaching. In addition to his work in the academy, Dr. Dugandzic has also brought his theological expertise to the aid of the Church, having taught theology to RCIA groups, catechists, and candidates for the permanent diaconate.

In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Dugandzic holds a BSc in biology from Concordia University in Montréal, Québec and an MA in religious studies from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. He and his wife, Audra, live in Baltimore. In his spare time, he likes to play hockey, which he enjoys almost as much as reading theology.

Selected Courses Taught

  • Foundations of Moral Theology
  • Catholic Social Ethics
  • Medical Ethics
  • The Virtues

Service to the Church

  • Guest speaker for RCIA groups, catechists, and priests continuing formation
  • Instructor in moral theology for candidates for the permanent diaconate

Selected Publications

  • “The Passio Corporalis and the Passio Animalis in Aquinas,” European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas 38 (2020): 1-14
  • “The First Movements of the Sensitive Appetite: Aquinas in Context,” New Blackfriars 99 (2018): 638-52
  • “Human Nature and the Therapy-Enhancement Distinction,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly2 (2017): 193-94

Recommended Reading

A Favorite Quotation

In a common mode, God is in all things by his essence, power, and presence … [but] above this common mode is a special one, which befits the rational creature, in whom God is said to be as the thing known is in the knower and as the beloved is in the lover. And since by the act of knowing and loving the rational creature is said to touch God, God is said not only to be in the rational creature, but to dwell in him as in his temple.

— St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, I, q. 43, a. 3.