University of San Diego, a private, Roman Catholic institution, has come under fire from both UK and U.S. theologians for making a last minute cancellation of a British Theologian's lecture under pressure from its financial contributors.

According to the letter of cancellation sent by the university, USD President Mary Lyons wrote that theologian in question Tina Beattie 'publicly dissents' Church's moral teachings and hence, it may affect the relationship between the donors and the university.

Beattie was scheduled to fly to San Diego in two weeks to be a visiting fellow to the university and give public talks, before she received the letter of cancellation Oct.27 which she made public Thursday through emails sent to her friends and colleagues, reports National Catholic Reporter.

A professor of Catholic studies at London's private University of Roehampton known for her work in contemporary ethical issues and Catholic understandings of feminism, Beattie allegedly asked Lyons to reconsider who responded in negative.

"In light of the contradiction between the mission of the Center and your own public stances as a Catholic theologian, I regretfully rescind the invitation that has been extended to you," Lyons wrote n the letter of cancellation obtained by NCR.

Though the letter does not specify the issue with Beattie, this is not the first cancellation she had to face.

In September, her scheduled talk at Bristol was also cancelled.

Such last minute cancellations started to take off after she wrote a letter to Times arguing that Catholics could, "using fully informed consciences ... support the legal extension of civil marriage to same-sex couples," reports The Guardian. She was one among 27 the Clerics, Theologians and Activists who co-signed the letter.

Beattie said in an interview with NCR that cancellation of her fellowship was "symptomatic of something very new and very worrying."

"It's unheard of, certainly in Britain, for a theologian in my position to feel threatened by this kind of action," Beattie said. "It's not about me; it's about some change in the culture of the Catholic church that we should be very, very concerned about."

The Guardian reports that Beattie slammed the university for 'colluding in the Sovietisation' of Roman Catholic intellectual life.

As NCR points out, prominent theologians in the U.S. and the UK have called the university's treatment of Beattie 'an insult' and 'dispiriting' and are worried that it might have a chilling effect in the academic world.