More on Woman Appointed to Vatican Academy

A few days ago I reported on Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard Law School professor who has been appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences - the first woman who has been appointed to such an important position at a Vatican Academy. At the time I wrote that having women in such positions "might end up having a very positive impact on the direction which the Roman Catholic Church take in the future," but maybe I was wrong.

Scott S. Greenberger writes for the Boston Globe:

Rev. Richard McBrien, a Notre Dame theologian, compared Glendon's selection to that of Clarence Thomas to the US Supreme Court. His conservative views have been sharply criticized by fellow blacks, and Glendon's views, he said, are also extreme and out of step with the constituency she is supposed to represent. "Catholic women who know her would not see her as one of their own and would not see her as evidence of the Vatican's commitment to place women in high positions of visibility," McBrien said.

During the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal, Glendon also criticized the Globe and other news media for their reporting of the story, arguing that they were misleading the public. In a speech in Rome in 2002, Glendon described the Globe as "by far the worst offender," slamming the newspaper for making decades-old abuse cases appear current, and "creating a climate of hysteria by describing the story as a pedophilia crisis" when many of the cases involved teenagers, and singling out the Catholic Church when other institutions were guilty of similar misconduct. "All I can say is that if fairness and accuracy have anything to do with it, awarding the Pulitzer Prize to The Boston Globe would be like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden," Glendon said in the Rome speech.

Leading opponents of gay marriage say Glendon has played a critical role in the current debate. Earlier this week, House Republicans handed out a letter, authored by conservative legal scholars, warning that a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman and creating civil unions for same-sex couples would "raise serious religious liberty issues statewide." The letter, signed by Glendon and several other scholars but closely echoing one of her recent articles, said the amendment would mean that "churches and other religious organizations that fail to embrace civil unions . . . may be forced to retreat from their practices or else face enormous legal pressure to change their views." ... Laurence Tribe, another Harvard law colleague who professes respect and fondness for Glendon, called the article "unbelievably irresponsible."

I guess it's not a surprise that she received this appointment - and, near as I can tell, she won't be providing any new direction, ideas, or perspectives to the job she will be doing. Of course, it was probably naive to think that anyone would come to such a position if anything else were the case.

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• Roman Catholicism
• Vatican Council II