María Pilar Aquino, the first Mexican-born Roman Catholic woman to earn the doctoral degree in theology, and the first Roman Catholic woman to earn the doctoral degree in theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, after St. Theresa of Avila, will deliver the sixth annual Anne Drummey O'Callaghan Lecture On Women in the Church at Fairfield University on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m., in the Kelley Theater of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield.

Her lecture, "Option for the Poor - Option for Women Today: Feminist Theological Perspectives," will explore the meaning and implications of the tradition for affirming in feminist terms the dignity and rights of women in today's church and society. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Dr. Aquino, born in Mexico (Nayarit, 1956) and raised in the Sonora/Arizona border, is a feminist Catholic theologian. Currently she is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism at the University of San Diego. Her doctoral degree was earned at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain in 1991. The University of Helsinki, Finland, conferred on her the degree of Doctor of Theology Honoris Causae in 2000.

She is a founding member of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic/Latino Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS), of which she has also been the first woman President. She has served as Director of the Hispanic Ministry Program at Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America (2002-2004), and of Concilium Revue Internationale de Theologie (1998-2003).

Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors of various prominent theological journals, including Theológica Xaveriana, Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, of the Jury for the Prize on Contextual Theology and Philosophy of Institut Missio in Germany, of the Board of Directors of Tepeyac Institute Catholic Pastoral Center, Diocese of El Paso, an active participant in national and international theological associations, and she is the Chair of the Committee for the Best Article Award to New Scholars of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

Dr. Pilar is the 1997 recipient of the "Virgilio Elizondo Award" of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States for her outstanding contribution to Latina Feminist Theology, and was designated as the first "Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz" Professor of Latina Feminist Theology by the Hispanic Summer Program at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2000. She was named by Germany's Institute of Missiology as one of the seventy most influential theologians in the world today.

She is the author of Our Cry for Life. Feminist Theology from Latin America (1993); La Teología, La Iglesia y La Mujer en América Latina (1994); Teología Feminista Latinoamericana (1998); the editor of Aportes para una Teología desde la Mujer (1988), and the co-editor of Theology: Expanding the Borders , with Roberto S. Goizueta (1998); Entre la Indignación y la Esperanza. Teología Feminista Latinoamericana , with Ana María Tepedino (1998); In the Power of Wisdom. Feminist Spiritualities of Struggle , with Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (2000); The Return of the Just War , with Dietmar Mieth (2001); A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology. Religion and Justice , with Daisy Machado and Jeanette Rodríguez (2002); and Reconciliation in a World of Conflicts , with Luis Carlos Susin (2003). She has published numerous articles on the feminist experience and thought in society, culture, religion, and in the churches from the context of the Americas.

The Anne Drummey O'Callaghan Lecture On Women in the Church, begun in October of 2001, honors the memory of O'Callaghan, formerly of Norwalk, who dedicated herself to religious education, especially as it relates to liturgy. She served as youth minister and director of religious education at both St. Jerome and St. Joseph parishes in Norwalk. Active on numerous catechetical boards and committees of the Diocese of Bridgeport, she was chair of BRED, the professional association of Bridgeport Religious Educators. She was particularly interested in church history and was passionate about the role of women in the church. This lecture series is designed to acknowledge the advanced role of women in the church and provide a forum to converse on other important religious issues.

For additional information on the lecture, please contact Carolyn Arnold, (203) 254-4000 ext. 3415.

Posted On: 09-26-2006 10:09 AM

Volume: 39 Number: 40