John C. Cavadini, associate professor and chair of theology and McGrath-Cavadini Director of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life, has been appointed to the International Theological Commission by Pope Benedict XVI.
The International Theological Commission consists of some 30 theologians from around the world. An advising body to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, its members are personally appointed by the pope, who reviews their credentials himself.
Bishop John M. D’Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend said that Cavadini’s appointment “brings honor to our diocese and to Notre Dame, especially to its theology department.”
Praising Cavadini’s scholarship, teaching and example, Bishop D’Arcy observed that “he has always linked teaching and a spiritual life and prayer with study. His classes show a person who prays and binds himself closely, not to some proposed church of the future, but to the real church of the bishop and the faithful. He sees theology as at the service of the church and of her needs.”
A member of Notre Dame’s faculty since 1990, Cavadini specializes in patristic and early medieval theology, the theology of Augustine and the history of biblical and patristic exegesis. Often and widely consulted by Church leaders, ministers and teachers, he recently has become interested in and active on behalf of the development of theological education in the Catholic Church of Africa.
The author of several books in his chosen discipline, Cavadini also writes essays, articles and reviews in popular journals. In September he was appointed by Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president, as co-chair of a new campus Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life.