SAN DIEGO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 6, 2012
The University of San Diego canceled a British theologian’s fellowship after an influential alumnus and a conservative watchdog group backed by a high-ranking Vatican official protested the appointment to the university’s board of trustees.
Tina Beattie, a professor of Catholic studies at London’s University of Roehampton known for her work in contemporary ethical issues, was to have begun a two-month fellowship at the university Tuesday, Nov. 6.
University president Mary Lyons informed Beattie that the fellowship had been canceled in an Oct. 27 letter.
Thirteen members of the Catholic university’s theology and religious studies faculty and the 47,000-member American Association of University Professors raised concerns about the impact of Lyons’ action in separate letters Monday and Tuesday. (See related story: National group: Theologian’s disinvite raises ‘serious issues’.)
In a letter to Beattie Oct. 27, Lyons alleged the theologian publicly dissented from church teaching. The rescission, which was made public by Beattie Nov. 1, sparked near immediate criticism from prominent theologians in the U.S. and the U.K. who expressed worries that it might have a chilling effect in the academic world.
Among those protesting Beattie’s appointment was Thomas McKenna, president of the San Diego-based group Catholic Action for Faith and Family, a non-profit organization backed by Cardinal Raymond Burke, the head of the Vatican’s supreme court.
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