By Josh McDermid
Professor Tracey Rowland’s academic achievements are so numerous that they can barely be listed. She has doctorates from both the University of Cambridge and the Pontifical Lateran University, was previously Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne, is currently the St John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia, was a member of the International Theological Commission, won the 2020 Ratzinger Prize, and has written books including Ratzinger’s Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI, Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed and Catholic Theology, as well as over 150 articles.
Hence, it was a great privilege for the seminarians and staff of Corpus Christi College that Professor Rowland and her husband Stuart joined us for dinner on Wednesday 17 May. Given Pope Benedict XI’s death at the end of 2022, College Rector, Fr Cameron Forbes, thought it an opportune time to explore his legacy. Hence, Professor Rowland spoke to us about the legacy of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, outlining his story from a young boy in Bavaria, to a peritus at the Second Vatican Council, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally Pope.
Professor Rowland explained that Pope Benedict’s legacy is primarily intellectual, and that, in her opinion, he will be made a Doctor of the Church. She explored the deeply patristic nature of his theology, his love for St Augustine and St Bonaventure, and refuted the oft-made claim that he had transformed from a theological progressive to a theological conservative, instead explaining that while a young Fr Joseph Ratzinger was initially challenging the dominance of scholasticism, he would later respond to a different trend, that of critical theory with its Marxian influences.
We were also grateful to hear of some of her personal anecdotes of encounters with Popes Francis and Benedict XVI, of attending Pope Benedict’s funeral in Rome, of her inspiring meeting with Cardinal Zen, and of her time with Cardinal Pell only days before his death. We thank Professor Rowland and Stuart for joining us and hope to see them again at the seminary in the not-too-distant future.