Mary Daly, radical feminist theologian and a mother of modern feminist theology, died Jan. 3 at the age of 81. She was one of the most influential voices of the radical feminist movement through the later 20th century.Daly taught courses in theology, feminist ethics and patriarchy at Boston College for 33 years. Her first book, "The Church and the Second Sex," published in 1968, got her fired, briefly, from her teaching position there, but as a result of support from the (then all-male) student body and the general public, she was ultimately granted tenure.
Mary E. Hunt, co-founder and co-director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), announced the death Jan. 3 online in "The Feminist Studies in Religion" bulletin:
"With a heavy heart, yet grateful beyond words for her life and work, I report that Mary Daly died this morning, January 3, 2010 in Massachusetts. She had been in poor health for the last two years. Her contributions to feminist theology, philosophy, and theory were many, unique, and if I may say so, world-changing. She created intellectual space; she set the bar high. Even those who disagreed with her are in her debt for the challenges she offered. ... She always advised women to throw our lives as far as they would go. I can say without fear of exaggeration that she lived that way herself."
Daly once wrote: "There are and will be those who think I have gone overboard. Let them rest assured that this assessment is correct, probably beyond their wildest imagination, and that I will continue to do so."
Link (here) to the full NCR article.
Blogger Note: I wonder how many Jesuit vocations she personally ruined in her 33 year Boston College tenure?
A great piece (here) by Father Z, really the best I have seen yet on Sister Mary.
13 comments:
Ding Dong, the Witch is dead.
Ding dong indeed. The problem with women like her is that they have given an immense amount of effort to their radical views but have achieved no positive results. Only chaos is their reward. Let's hope that when Sandra Schneiders joins her they will live happily ever after in ????. The trouble is they won't know the difference.
Charity people …. Pray for her. “forgive us our trespasses and we forgive those who trespass against us.” God takes no pleasure in our wishing for another soul to burn in hell for all eternity.
Daly’s generation is dying off, they have become obsolete. And the Church still stands… they have failed to destroy Her. Those who have been led astray by false doctrines will, by the Grace of God, be given the chance to embrace the Truth again. The younger generations are already rejecting the watered down, rationalized “theology” of Daly and her colleges … they are coming home to true, unadulterated Catholicism. Our job is to pray and proclaim the Truth.
The Jesuits, at some point, really need to start owning up to the damage done by those of her ilk.
Suz
Yes, you are right to counsel charity. It's the only way. But people like Mary Daly had little charity for any who disagreed with them and their destructive path led to polarized positions in which there was no room for it. But, as you say, her generation is passing, leaving no successors, and that proves that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the Church. I agree, let's pray for her soul.
Having now read what she was responsible for and how she behaved at Boston College, the source of her income and status, I find it hard to be charitable about her. Her life seemed based on an economically insulated abuse of her position. In return, she abused the religious Order that paid her bills and gave her a home and a pension. What a self-indulgent hypocrite she was, biting the hand that fed her. She also vindicated Freud's theory of penis envy. Best forgotten.
As for the delusional women who swallowed her bait, what sad and miserable lives they must be leading.
The Jesuits have been abused by this terrible destructive person only because they were willing to be abused in order to be avant garde, fearing of not moving with the quasi divine progress and modernity. The result is our decadence which pleases us so much, still...
Maria, Fr Thomas was being ironical.
I offer no respect to those who show none. She requires neither your charity nor your prayers. Her work lives, even if you are blind to it. We are the ones the fathers warned you about. Radical. Lesbian. Feminist. Witch, if you will. Reminding you of a power of which you do not wish to be reminded. I love these women living loudly in cheerful resonance amidst the dissonance of your realities. Like me, they attend to themselves. Like me, they are invisible in your sightlessness. If you believe we cannot exist because you cannot perceive us, you are wrong.
Anonymous was a woman.
I HOPE CHRIST IS MERCIFUL TO HER...BECAUSE HUMAN NATURE THE WAY IT IS...MANY OF US COULD NOT BE...AS A NUN SHE PROBABLY RECEIVED THE HABIT WITH JOY ...BUT BECAUSE OF HER UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH SHE BECAME A VERY ANGRY OLD BAG...MAY SHE SOMEWHAT REST IN PEACE...FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD......
Anonymous #5,
I will say an Our Father for the repose of Mary Daly's soul, and one for you as well.
"Anonymous was a woman."
How does your feminist apostles' creed differ from the patriarchical Apostles' Creed?
And your Pater Noster????
Anyone care to research the etymology of the word "hysterical"?
Just for your mood swinging hysteria: Conrad, Heart of Darkness:
"It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over."
This anonymous is a man.
hahahahahahahahaha
I am going to clean up some of the comments in this post and close down the comments section. In my opinion Mary Daly was a destructive figure, as pointed out in some of the comments, it is our duty to pray for her. She made have made amends in her final hour. Jesus teaches us that we are all due our reward no matter when we enter the vineyard.
JMJ
Joe
Post a Comment