An Australian, Professor Tracey Rowland, is among five women that Pope Francis has appointed to the International Theological Commission.
This is a record number of women to be on the 30 member commission.
There were two women appointees in the previous five-year term of the commission, which is an aid to the Pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Among the other woman appointees are American Sr Prudence Allen, RSM, former chair of the philosophy department at St John Theological Seminary in Denver and Moira Mary McQueen, who is director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute.
The other women appointees are Sr Alenka Arko (Slovenia-Russia) and Marianne Schlosser (Germany – Austria).
Dr Rowland is dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne.
Writing for the Boston Globe’s Crux Now website, Vatican commentator John Allen said Professor Rowland would be seen as among the leading intellectual lights of the “Evangelical Catholicism” movement.
American Catholic writer George Weigel described Evangelical Catholicism as a faith that “unapologetically proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the truth of the world”.
Professor Rowland has written a number of books on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger.
Her writings have been praised by commentators like the National Catholic Reporter’s Michael Sean Winters.
But Allen wrote that looking at the 30 appointees, “the thing that truly jumps out is the preponderance of figures regarded by most Catholics in the know as fairly conservative”.
He wrote of Professor Rowland: “She writes frequently for publications with a conservative editorial bent, and is seen as an articulate defender of traditional Catholic doctrine.”
He also noted that she is close to Cardinal George Pell and Sydney’s new archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP.
Allen said all the ITC appointees are “accomplished thinkers who are eminently qualified to advise the Vatican on doctrinal matters”.
“It’s hard not to be struck, however, by the fact that they seem to come largely from one side of the street,” he added.
Allen said the best way to explain these conservative appointments is that Francis wants to maintain a sense of balance.
“He’s said he wants the Church to be in dialogue with everyone, and one way to accomplish that is to ensure a mix of points of view in leadership positions.”
Sources