Weinandy, "...the book does not adequately treat a Catholic understanding of God"

Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap.

The president of Fordham, the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, said in a statement that Sister Johnson is a “revered member of the Fordham community,” who regards the bishops’ action as “an invitation to dialogue.” Sister Johnson is a prominent feminist theologian and a former president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. She belongs to a religious order in New York, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. 

The Rev. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Doctrine, said, “The primary concern was not over feminism or nonfeminism. The bishops are saying that the book does not adequately treat a Catholic understanding of God.” 

He said the doctrine committee had no authority to mandate that the book be removed from Catholic educational institutions or to discipline Sister Johnson. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s enforcer of doctrine, has disciplined several theologians during the papacy of Benedict XVI, who was in charge of that office before he became pope in 2005. Father Weinandy said the impetus for reviewing Sister Johnson’s book did not come from the Vatican. He said several American bishops who did not serve on the doctrine committee had raised concerns about the book. 

Link (here) to the full article at The New York Times