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San Diego school disinvites pro-gay union fellow

Published: November 2, 2012 Comment on this article

Beattie, a professor of theology and religious studies at Roehampton University, said the San Diego school rejected her plea to reconsider pulling the fellowship at its Frances G. Harpst Center of Catholic Thought and Culture. She blamed "a hostile minority of bloggers" for trying to discredit and distort her views.

Beattie wrote on her blog that she planned to steer clear of controversy in her San Diego lectures and seminars to avoid problems for her hosts in the "currently febrile atmosphere of American Catholic politics."

Gerard Mannion, the center's director, said he was "very surprised, shocked and deeply disappointed" by the university's decision. He said students and faculty were planning a series of protests.

In 2008, the University of San Diego withdrew its appointment of Rosemary Radford Ruether for serving on the board of an abortion rights organization, Catholics for Choice. Ruether had been named the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology.

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