May 27, 2016
by MOSAIC Editorial Team
At the February 8 Board of Trustees meeting, the trustees of Sacred Heart Major Seminary approved the faculty promotions of Dr. Mary Healy, associate professor of Sacred Scripture, and Dr. Ralph Martin, associate professor of theology, to full professorships.
Dr. Healy, who holds an STD in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, has served the seminary as an associate professor since 2008. She has authored, co-authored, or edited ten books, including Men and Women Are From Eden. This overview of the theology of the body developed by St. John Paul II has sold tens of thousands of copies and has been translated into seven languages. She is co-editor of the seventeen-volume Catholic Commentary of Sacred Scripture, which will be released by Baker Academic this year, and to which she has contributed two volumes, on the Gospel of Mark and Hebrews.
Pope Francis appointed Dr. Healy to the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 2014. She is the only American on the twenty-member commission, which is made up of biblical scholars from across the globe. She has published numerous academic and popular articles, and she regularly gives academic presentations and conference talks nationally and internationally. Most recently, Dr. Healy presented talks on Scripture and God's mercy to the priests of the Diocese of Raleigh.
Dr. Martin earned his STD from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas. He has been a faculty member at Sacred Heart since 2001, and since 2003 has been the director of the graduate programs in the New Evangelization.
In 1980, Dr. Martin founded Renewal Ministries, a Catholic renewal and evangelization outreach that is active in thirty countries. His The Choices We Face television program, which he has hosted since 1985 and airs on the Eternal Word Television Network, is the longest continuously running Catholic television program.
Dr. Martin is the author of many pamphlets and articles that proclaim and defend the Catholic faith. He has authored ten books, the latest being The Urgency of the New Evangelization: Answering the Call. His other titles include The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints, and Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Dr. Martin as a consultor on the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization in 2011. He participated in the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in 2012. Dr. Martin has been in demand as a conference speaker for nearly five decade—since the early days of the Catholic charismatic movement, of which he was one of the first members.
Congratulations to my two long-time colleagues, says Dr. Mark Latkovic, professor of moral and systematic theology and faculty member since 1990. For their outstanding scholarship, leadership roles, dynamic lectures at the seminary and worldwide, numerous contributions to the universal Church, and zeal in preaching the New Evangelizationthese advances in rank are well earned.
Dr. Martin and Dr. Healy well deserve this advancement in academic rank, says Dr. Peter Williamson. Not only is their scholarship superb, but it is directed to the New Evangelization, adds Sacred Heart's Adam Cardinal Maida Chair in Sacred Scripture. Both have made and are making important contributions to the Church on a national and international level. Both are prayerful people and examples of models of what a Christian teacher should be.
The faculty promotions committee of the Board of Trustees determines a faculty member's worthiness for promotion after a thorough evaluation process. The committee sends its recommendation to the dean of studies, who then sends his recommendation to the seminary rector. If the rector approves of the promotion, he forwards his approval to the academic affairs committee of the Board of Trustees for final action.
MOSAIC Editorial Team