By Paul Dobbyn
IPSWICH-born Professor Tracey Rowland recently received an email that left her “totally stunned”.
It contained a letter signed by Pope Francis announcing she had been appointed as a member of the International Theological Commission.
Prof Rowland, dean of Melbourne’s John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, was reportedly in Spain in the palace of the Archbishop of Granada when the email arrived.
“I was holding my iPad in my hand and there was the ‘ding’ sound as we entered the library,” she said.
“I saw that there was a message from the Vatican so I looked at it before the other messages.
“I was really totally stunned. This was not something I was expecting at all.”
The 30-member International Theological Commission assists the Holy See, and in particular the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in examining important and current doctrinal questions.
Announced on September 24, the commission is composed of theologians from various schools and nations, eminent for their scientific excellence and fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church.
Prof Rowland is one of five women appointed to the commission and will serve a five-year term until 2019.
