Kathy Lilla Cox is a Research Associate and Visiting Scholar at the University of San Diego. After earning her PhD in Theology from Fordham University, she taught undergraduates from 2007 to 2018 in central MN at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University.  During the same period, she taught graduate students at St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary (Collegeville, MN).  

She authored Water Shaping Stone: Faith, Relationships, and Conscience Formation (Liturgical Press, 2015). Her most recent essays include: “Beyond ‘Cannot Be Resolved’: Considering Ways Forward for Frozen Embryos” In Putting God on the Map: Theology and Conceptual Mapping, Erin S. Kidd and Jakob Karl Rinderknecht eds. (Lexington Books, 2018); and “Infertility: A Lens for Discerning Parenthood in Marriage” in Sex, Love, and Families, Jason King and Julie Hanlon Rubio eds. (Liturgical Press, 2020).  

Her research interests include fundamental moral theology, marriage and infertility, moral formation, feminist ethics, spirituality and discipleship, and Benedictine approaches to moral theology.  She is working on several essays exploring what the Rule of St. Benedict offers for understanding the relationship between morality, spirituality, and Christian discipleship.

She enjoys cooking, golfing, reading fiction and poetry, exploring the many hiking trails in San Diego, and spending time with her spouse as well as their extended family.