Maryanne Stevens holds a PhD in Religion and Education from Boston College and a Masters in Spirituality from St. Louis University. She recently retired after 27 years as President of College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. She now volunteers with “Omaha Welcomes the Stranger,” a not-for-profit organization helping new immigrant families find their way in the United States. She serves on the social ministry committee of Mercy Investment Services and the boards of St. Xavier University in Chicago and Mercy High School in Omaha.
As a feminist theologian, Mary Aquin O’Neill wrote Original Grace: The Mystery of Mary out of a committed devotion to Mary and a commitment to women. She was very aware that the images of Mary developed over the years by male theologians simply deepened an understanding of women as inferior.