Catholic university nixes feminist prof

UPI ^ | August 20, 2008

[NYer]

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The University of San Diego has withdrawn its offer of an endowed chair to a Catholic feminist scholar who supports abortion rights.

The announcement that Rosemary Radford Ruether had been appointed to the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology was greeted with dismay by many Catholic and anti-abortion groups, the San Diego Union-Tribune said Wednesday. Ruether sits on the board of Catholics for a Free Choice.

University spokeswoman Patricia Gray Payton said that one person who did not object was the anonymous benefactor who endowed the chair.

"Her public position and the symbol of this chair are in direct conflict," Payton said. "This chair is a powerful, visible symbol of Roman Catholic theology, and in Roman Catholic theology abortion is disallowed."

The news that Ruether's appointment had been rescinded has created more controversy. Two Catholic women's groups have gathered 2,000 signatures on petitions asking the university to change its mind again.

[NYer]

B.A., Scripps College
M.S., Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School

Rosemary Radford Ruether is the Carpenter Emerita Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion and the GTU, as well as the Georgia Harkness Emerita Professor of Applied Theology at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and is well known as a groundbreaking figure in Christian feminist theology. Ruether has published numerous books, including Sexism and God-Talk, In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women’s Religious Writing (ed. with Rosemary Skinner Keller), and The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Her most recent books include Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (May 2005), Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions (Nature\'s Meaning 2005) and Mountain Sisters: From Convent To Community In Appalachia. Most recently, she collaborated on a multi-volume Encyclopedia of Women in American Religion, with Rosemary Skinner Keller (2006).

[NYer]

Ping!

[Aquinasfan]

Ruether sits on the board of Catholics for a Free Choice.

A "controversial" decision? Cut the ****!! I though CU was reforming.

[Tax-chick]

The fact that she was even considered, much less appointed, suggests there are loony-toons on the board.

[trisham]

The news that Ruether's appointment had been rescinded has created more controversy. Two Catholic women's groups have gathered 2,000 signatures on petitions asking the university to change its mind again.

****************

Fools. Is anyone surprised?

[neb52]

The benefactor’s money that was endowing the chair probably blinded them. I wonder how much of an effort was made to check her background?

[thefrankbaum]

This is USD, not CU, just fyi :-)

[ConservativeDude]

what an ugly old b*&^%.

she’d be better off to pick up an iron and start working on ironing some men’s shirts.

geez.

[narses]

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[marshmallow]

She has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and is well known as a groundbreaking figure in Christian feminist theology. Ruether has published numerous books, including Sexism and God-Talk, In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women’s Religious Writing (ed. with Rosemary Skinner Keller), and The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Her most recent books include Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (May 2005), Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions (Nature\'s Meaning 2005) and Mountain Sisters: From Convent To Community In Appalachia. Most recently, she collaborated on a multi-volume Encyclopedia of Women in American Religion, with Rosemary Skinner Keller (2006).

Talk about "damning with faint praise". Just look at the titles of her publications. Pure New Age mumbo jumbo.

Ms. Ruether is 72 years old. Retirement calls, Rosie...........

[Condor51]

Two Catholic women's groups have gathered 2,000 signatures on petitions asking the university to change its mind again.

2,000, wow. That'll make them shake in their boots.

[BooksForTheRight.com]

Well a Catholic university that is actually trying to be Catholic and isn’t bowing down to the god of feminism!

[Tax-chick]

I suppose if the benefactor proposed her for the position, that would make some sense. However, its seems impossible that they didn’t know who she was and what were her “qualifications.” Even I did!

[maryz]

its seems impossible that they didn’t know who she was and what were her “qualifications.” Even I did!

Hard to miss -- she's been doing this stuff for at least 40 years!

[Tax-chick]

This too shall pass ...

[lastchance]

Let me guess. Catholic Womyn Priestessssssesss and Maidens of Moloch.

[Thorin]

Well, at least they had the good sense to rescind the offer.
Of course, it should never have been extended in the first place.

[neb52]

Oh, I am not defending them. I’m just saying. (shrugs)

[Antoninus]

The benefactor’s money that was endowing the chair probably blinded them. I wonder how much of an effort was made to check her background?

One can not serve both God and Mammon. Where have I heard that before?

[Cicero]

They didn’t offer this chair to one of the most notorious Catholic heretics and troublemakers in the country by accident.

I don’t think they withdrew the offer because they saw the light. I think they simply got scared at the volume of the protest. And maybe a word from the bishop?

The whole business is totally disgusting. Real Catholics find it hard to get a job at these “Catholic” universities, while proud, disgusting dissidents like Ruether are offered endowed chairs.

This is like once conservative Princeton offering a top chair to Peter Singer, professor of bestiality and child killing. It’s enough to disgrace an entire university that they would even think of such offers.