A former Georgetown professor and a renowned and controversial theologian died suddenly on Sept. 30.
Monika Hellwig taught theology at Georgetown for nearly three decades, where she chaired the department and held the Landegger Distinguished Professorship in Theology.
She wrote and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, serving as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and, until this summer, president of the Association of the Catholic College and Universities of America. She was 74 when she died.
Theology department chair Chester Gillis recalled working under Dr. Hellwig when he first came to Georgetown.
“She was the most prominent member of the department, someone I had heard of because of her international reputation,” Gillis said. “This was a woman who did a lot of things, but she was very humble. On any given day she’d be giving a speech, nationally or in her parish, and the next day she’d be pulling weeds in the parish lawn.”
After completing her dissertation at Catholic University in 1956, Hellwig was hired by Georgetown in 1967, remembers Father William McFadden, then-head of the Theology Department.
“At the time, we had no openings, but a fellow Jesuit, who had had her as a professor in linguistics, told me, ‘If you don’t offer her a position, I’m going to move heaven and earth to get her here,’” he said. “Such a strong recommendation moved the provost and me to hire her anyway.”
Hellwig is remembered by her friends as a strong defender of Catholic theologians in the United States and their freedom to speak. She was also a lightning rod for criticism among many American Catholics, who saw her as a “heretical” liberal challenging the Vatican’s authority.
“She was not an agitator, but she would say some things that annoyed people,” McFadden said. “For many who opposed the Second Vatican Council, she became an obvious target. Google her name, and you will see some horrible things written about her.”
But according to Father Brian McDermott, rector of the Jesuit community and a close friend of Hellwig’s, Hellwig remained unfazed by her detractors.
“I think she weathered the attacks very well because she had a very strong understanding of Catholic tradition so she could assess the criticisms well,” McDermott said. “She was a tremendous and open person.”
Hellwig adopted and raised three children, Erica, Michael and Carlos. Upon retiring from the ACCU, she became a research fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center earlier this year and began to work on a new book.
“Recently she was working on a book she wanted to title Fullness of Life: Introduction to Christian Anthropology,” Father Gasper Lo Biondo, head of Woodstock Center, said. “You could tell she was a person of strong faith and clarity of thinking. Many call her one of the most important women theologians in the United States.”
