Karl Rahner, the famous theologian, once wrote to this nun: “If I were the Pope, I would ordain you a priest.” Sr Mary John Mananzan OSB recalls this in NunSense, her autobiography.
On 8 March 2011, the centennial of International Women’s Day, she was cited as one of the 100 Most Inspiring Persons in the World by an organization called ‘Women Deliver.’ Sr. Mary John is a prominent Filipina, who is an activist, feminist, theologian, educator, author, and an able administrator.
She was born on 6 November 1937, in Pangasinan, Philippines. Her father was a judge and her mother a teacher. She studied at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila, and joined the Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing, at the age of nineteen. After she taught in a high school for four years, her Congregation sent her to Germany to study missiology. She studied at Wilhelms University in Muenster, where she met one of the most revered theologians of the century, Karl Rahner SJ. Even after leaving the college, she kept up a regular correspondence with him and became a friend.
Fr M A Joe Antony SJ
To read the entire article, click Subscribe
