Rome: An Australian woman theologian, a leading expert on the Vatican II, and a French philosopher have shared this year’s the Ratzinger Prize for Theology, often described as the field’s equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize.

Professor Tracey Rowland of the University of Notre Dame Australia is the first Australian and third woman to win the prestigious award announced by Pope Francis October 1.

She shares the prize with the French philosopher Professor Jean-Luc Marion, 74-year-old expert in phenomenology.

The prize is awarded to two individuals each year regardless of their denomination and comes with A$125,000 (6,552,641 rupees) in prize money. Pope Benedict set up the award in 2010 to recognize those who perform promising scholarly research relating to or expounding upon his work.

The award ceremony will take place on November 14 at the Vatican, in the presence of Pope Francis. It is not clear if the winners will also be able to attend.

The award is a stunning win for the Melbourne-based academic who is the first Australian and only the third woman to receive the prestigious award.

Rowland, born in Ipswich, Queensland, in 1963, holds the St John Paul II Research Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia and teaches at both its campuses in Fremantle and Sydney.

Professor Rowland told The Catholic Weekly she was “surprised but not totally shocked” to find she had been chosen for the award given that she has published much about the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, including two books that have been translated into other languages.

She was unsure of the reasons for her win but thought it may be her work on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger and on the theology of culture, or what might be called the relationship between faith and culture.

University of Notre Dame’s Vice Chancellor Professor Francis Campbell said he was “delighted” for Professor Tracey. “For many years she has made a wonderful contribution to the discipline of Theology and to our Notre Dame community,” he said.

“While Tracey has had many achievements during her career, which have been recognized internationally, to be the first Australian to receive this award is surely one of the highest honors.

“I personally congratulate Tracey and I know her colleagues and the wider University community were thrilled to hear the news.”

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP described his former colleague as “an intellectual champion of the new evangelization” and said the award was a great honor both for her personally and for the whole country.

“I’ve known Tracey for decades and worked closely with her at the John Paul II Institute,” he said, noting that she is also Australia’s only member of the International Theological Commission that advises the Pope.

“She is an example of a theologian who does her theology on her knees rather than on her posterior – to use a distinction of Pope Francis,” the archbishop added.

“That is, she writes from a heart full of love for Christ and his Church, from a soul united to God in prayer, and from a mind informed by our Catholic tradition.

“Theology is not just intellectual gymnastics for her, not just novelty for its own sake or for popularity amongst peers. I think she is also someone who understands the trends in our culture and the ways people can be inoculated to faith today.”

Past winners include Marianne Schlosser, a Catholic professor of Spiritual Theology at the University of Wien who is also a member of the International Theological Commission and the Commission on the Female Diaconate, Mario Botta, a Swiss Catholic architect and Arvo Pärt, an Orthodox classical music composer.

Source: catholicweekly.com.au