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If it's not impressive enough that Associate Professor of Theology Karin Heller holds three doctoral degrees – in theology, history of religions and religious anthropology, and dogmatic theology – it's certainly notable that she's one of the few people around who can say that the Bishop of Rome and Head of the Roman Catholic Church on Earth advised her as she pursued one of those degrees.
Of course, Pope Benedict XVI was "just" Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1990, when he met with Heller and referred her to Bishop (now Cardinal and Patriarch of Venice) Angelo Scola, who became the director of her dissertation project in dogmatic theology at Rome's Lateran University. Mentioning the fact that she and the pope share a cultural and religious background, Heller says, "I enjoyed reading his theological works, and I continue to appreciate his capacity to relate Catholicism to modern culture and to integrate scripture into theology. He is a smart man, easy to talk to, warm-hearted, has good common sense – and he loves Mozart!"
After Ratzinger's election to the papacy, Heller wrote her mentor to express her joy at his election and to tell him about her current life at Whitworth. "In his homily when he was enthroned, he designated ecumenism as one of the major tasks of his pontificate," she says. "So I thought it appropriate to share with him my experience as a Catholic theologian at Whitworth, and my hope that he might take further steps to bring Christians of various faith traditions closer to a unity of ‘altar and ministry.'" Admonishing Whitworthians not to make too much of her influence – or even of the pope's – Heller goes on. "In the Catholic Church we think of such changes in terms of millennia, so don't get too excited."
Heller's letter also assured Benedict XVI of her daily prayers for his courage and strength. "According to Catholic tradition," she says, "one of the major tasks of the Bishop of Rome is to guarantee the unity of the Church. This means that the pope cannot represent just a portion of Christianity, but he must be the one who, conscious of his own weakness, is able to strengthen all his brothers and sisters, because Christ himself prayed for him, in Luke 22: 31-32."
Heller and Theatre Professor Rick Hornor, '70, will lead a Jan Term study program in 2006, during which their students will meet Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
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