Marie Kolbe Zamora (Image: Suzanne Weiss, Herald Times Reporter)
I know Sr. Marie Kolbe Zamora, OSF because she taught at my high school, and it is quite rare to have your high school teacher teaching at your college. It is quite rarer still to have her leave your high school because she went to work at the Vatican. When I saw Sr. Marie at St. Norbert College, I knew I had to talk to her about her life.
Sr. Marie was born and raised in Texas before joining the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in 1990. It was always clear to her that she would teach high school. Even though she had graduated college with a double major in philosophy and theology, she went back to college for teacher training and to get a state certification to teach. She went to teach theology for three years in Milwaukee; three years in Los Angeles, Calif.; then three years in Tucson, Ariz. Her experience in Tucson was helpful to her because she taught at the first Catholic high school in the U.S. to fully adopt computer use in class. Because the students all had devices, Sr. Marie felt compelled to learn how to teach with computer material which gave her a lot of skills to teach with technology, something she has not turned back from.
In 2004, her superior requested that she get an advanced degree in theology to teach at Silver Lake College. So, she enrolled at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome because St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Conv. earned his doctorate there. Classes were taught in Italian, which presented a challenge, but she successfully got a Bachelor’s and a License in Sacred Theology. She returned to the U.S. in 2011 while continuing to work towards her doctorate. She returned to work full time as a professor at Silver Lake College and took on the position of department chair. The theology department also provided courses for lay formation in the Diocese of Green Bay, so she assisted with that as well. She defended her thesis in 2015 and got her Doctorate. She continued with her previous posts until 2019 when she resigned to take a break. During her break, she took the opportunity to publish two books. Her superior came to her with a position available at St. Lawrence Seminary High School, and she accepted the role as a theology teacher. However, in 2020, she received an email from Cardinal Mario Grech offering to work for the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. After receiving permission from her fellow sisters and considering that the Secretariat belongs to the Pope and not the Roman Curia, she “could not not be open to the possibility of going.”
The Francis pontificate was the start of many reforms, and a central reform was synodality. Her office organized meetings called the Synods of Bishops. Her job was to write documents to help people get briefs and prepare translations. She worked with theologians writing and commenting on papers to assist in promulgating a final document. Any major speeches were also given to her office to be translated into five languages — the first time that the Synod of Bishops coordinated translations. She stated that it was a privilege for her to work in the “engine” of the synodality reform. She also got the opportunity to moderate a meeting with Pope Francis where she made a joke that made him laugh. The Synod has since finished, and she returned to the U.S. She misses most her community of friends in Rome, but she also said that she is grateful to St. Norbert College for being hospitable and making her return pleasant.