Mary Daly, R.I.P.

Here's a death notice you might have missed since it didn't get very much press. Mary Daly, former Catholic theologian, former professor at Boston College, radical feminist, professional hater of the Catholic Church, and many other things not publishable here, is dead.

Daly, the influential "mother" of radical feminist theology, not only hated the Catholic Church, but also hated the God it worshiped. She in effect accused the Holy Spirit of raping the Virgin Mary. She could not refer to St. Paul without the use of foul expletives. And her view of the Eucharist is probably best described in her own words:

The "gentle Jesus" who offers the faithful his body to eat and his blood to drink is playing Mother Goddess. And of course this fetal-identified male behind this Mother Mask is really saying: "Let me eat and drink you alive." This is no mere crude cannibalism but veiled vampirism. (Gyn/Ecology, 81)

A self-described pagan and eco-feminist, she once declared in an interview, ''I hate the Bible. I always did. I didn't study theology out of piety. I studied it because I wanted to know.''

Seemingly trapped in a madness of her own making, Daly was not a particularly pleasant person. She died early last month at the age of 81. May she taste the mercy of the Father she despised. Rest in peace.