Friday, May 29, 2009

Hispanic theologian Diaz nominated Holy See ambassador

The White House has announced it plans to nominate Miguel H. Diaz, an associate professor of theology at Minnesota's College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University as the US ambassador to the Holy See.

Diaz, 45, a Cuban-American, was a member of the Obama campaign's Catholic advisory board, AP reports.

He was among 26 Catholics who signed a statement supporting the nomination of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic whose support for abortion rights was criticized by conservative Catholics.

The previous ambassador to the Vatican was Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard University professor.

The White House provided the following biography for Díaz:

"Dr. Miguel Díaz is a Professor of Theology at St. John's University and the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota. He is the co-editor of the book 'From the Heart of Our People: Explorations in Catholic Systematic Theology' and author of 'On Being Human: U.S. Hispanic and Rahnerian Perspectives,' named 'Best Book of the Year' by the Hispanic Theological Initiative at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Díaz taught Religious Studies and Theology at Barry University, the University of Dayton and the University of Notre Dame. From 2001 to 2003, he taught and served as Academic Dean at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. He is a Board Member of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) and Past President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS). Dr. Díaz holds a B.A. from St. Thomas University and a M.A. and PhD in Theology from the University of Notre Dame."

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, where Díaz teaches, has posted more detail in a news release, and says that Díaz's academic interests are "the Trinity, theological anthropology and Latino/a theologies", Boston.com says.

Diaz is also a consultant to Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Source (CTHUS)

SV (ED)