At last, we have an official update on the status of former GetReligionista Dawn Eden -- by which we mean the former rock music journalist and headline writer superstar turned Catholic theologian Dawn Eden Goldstein.

The last time we checked in, Dawn had just received her doctorate in sacred theology -- magna cum laude -- from the University of St. Mary on the Lake (Mundelein Seminary). This caught the attention of The Chicago Tribune, since it was the first time in the university's history that a woman had earned a canonical (i.e. pontifically licensed) doctorate in theology.

We've known for some time now that Dr. Dawn had some kind of academic post pending, teaching in an official Catholic seminary, but couldn't talk about it since it was outside the United States and there were work-permit issues, etc.

Recently, Goldstein offered a long update, via her weblog. Here's the top:

The Doctor is in ... England!

"I am currently awaiting confirmation of a job offer -- prayers, please!" Until now, that plea, posted on The Dawn Patrol last April, was the last bit of news I shared on my blog concerning my plans upon becoming the first woman to receive a canonical doctorate in sacred theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake.

Today it is my joy to write of answered prayers. Since October, I have been a resident lecturer in theology at St. Mary's College, Oscott, which is the seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England. It is the largest seminary in the English-speaking world outside the United States (not counting the U.S.-operated North American College in Rome).

Although Oscott has long had women on staff and recently awarded the title of Professor to Church History lecturer and Director of Studies Dr. Judith Champ, my hiring marks the first time that the seminary has ever had a female theologian in residence.

Who is she teaching? That's a really interesting wrinkle in this story:

Thus far I have been teaching three classes -- Eucharist, Ecclesiology, and The Church and Dialogue -- and next semester I will contribute two lectures to a fourth class, Holy Order (for which I will teach the theology of the priesthood from Vatican II to the present). My students, all of whom are men studying for the priesthood, hail variously from England, Scotland, Wales, the Philippines, Cameroon, and Nigeria. They include not only diocesan seminarians but also members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Vocationist Fathers, and the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because I teach three different year groups, I have a total of thirty-two students in my classes -- nearly half the seminary. 

Feel free to leave the Doctor some comments at the end of this post.

Meanwhile, her former colleagues can only hope that she will keep her eyes open for religion ghosts in British newspapers and sent us notes and URLs. And the occasional rock concert essay.