New Catholic Women, A Contemporary Challenge to Traditional Religious Authority

by Mary Jo Weaver

'Roman Catholic women carry the symbolic weight of all Christian women since they are part of the only major denomination which does not ordain women. Mary Jo Weaver provides a useful, journalistic account of the history of Catholic women in the United States' - Mary Hunt in "Books and Religion".'Weaver ...has written a comprehensive summary of the challenge to authority in the church that American Catholic women represent today. She has done years of research among living subjects and in libraries; although she assumes the rightness of women's cause, she maintains a careful objectivity in her effort to Re conceptualize old patterns of authority through the questions women raise today.Weaver's book should reach an expanded audience eager to reinterpret the past, and is especially useful in recalling some of the invisible women in American Catholic history...Those who want to catch up with the players and the action in Catholic feminist thinking and spirituality in recent decades will find "New Catholic Women" indispensable...Weaver is convincing in her claims that the values Catholic feminists represent are the key to the future of American Catholicism. "New Catholic Women" is a lifegiving testimony; it remains to be seen how the church as a whole will respond to it' - Sally Cunneen in "Cross Currents".'Filling a gap in both women's studies and American church history, this is the first full-scale study of how the U.S. women's movement has intersected with the lives and aspirations of American Roman Catholic women...Especially useful is the study's historical perspective, which traces the roots of today's issues in previous centuries and provides specific data about the times and places of Catholic women's awakening. This book is indispensable for contextualizing the present situation' - Elizabeth Johnson in "Religious Studies Review".'This assessment of currents in Roman Catholic feminism is a strong argument against existing structures in the church. In a wide-ranging survey that includes the significant Womanchurch movement, Weaver ...examines older models of women's participation in the church and presents questions and developments in the framework of what could be seen as a new Reformation...Weaver's account of the historically marginal status of women in the church is troubling; her readable advocacy is enlightening as well' - "Publishers Weekly". Weaver makes an important contribution to American feminist theology...She provides a lucid summary of developments in twentieth-century theology ...that helps in understanding the roots of much contemporary feminist (and other) theology...In writing a book that is clear and comprehensive, Weaver has succeeded in naming a history too long suppressed, organizing what to many may have seemed a dizzying parade of feminist thinkers, and helping to set the agenda for the future of feminist theology' - Susan Ross in "The Journal of Religion".Mary Jo Weaver charts the course of women in the United States Catholic Church, and in the process reveals much about the Catholic church in America. She also examines the new feminist consciousness found among some Catholic women. The chapters treat women's roles in the parish; Catholic women's religious orders and their relationships to the women's movement; the issues surrounding ordination; Roman Catholic feminist theologians; and Roman Catholic feminist spirituality. Weaver adds a new introduction addressing the current realities of a conservative Papacy and Church.

Genres: Religion, Spirituality

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON CATHOLIC WOMEN SEEKING CHANGES

Author Mary Jo Weaver wrote in the Introduction to this 1985 book, “Although this book focuses on some women in the American Catholic church and sets the issues within the context of the women’s movement, I recognize that repressive moves against women are part of a wider spectrum of official reactions within the last few years: the campaign against nuns and priests in political office who hold left-wing views; the attempted discrediting of … [theologians] who espouse liberation theology… the attempted suppression of gay ministry… and patriarchal directives to congregations of American sisters that require a return to wearing the religious habit… All these actions and words are meant to support papalism and are usually held together by an appeal to … ‘the official position of the church,’ when that position is no more than papal opinion supported by reactionary political and social groups.” (Pg. vii-viii)

She continues, “This book explores fundamental changes in the lives and influence of women in the American Catholic church. On almost all levels---parish, ritual, and vowed ‘religious life,’ as well as that of theological reflection and protest, and social and political activism---Roman Catholic women are redefining themselves and their roles and are challenging the American Catholic church to move in radically different directions… it is currently part of a deep and widening division among Catholics… questioning basic notions about religious authority, divinity, and liturgy.” (Pg. x)

She explains, “I have written this book from a clearly interested perspective. It will be evident to readers that I am a convinced feminist who is decidedly Catholic. Though I could make the argument that Irish Catholicism is an ethnic identification from which one cannot escape, I claim my Roman Catholicism as more than an interested default and am not chagrined to find a strong passion for the tradition deep within myself… At the same time, I am a feminist and find that I am diametrically opposed to Roman patriarchal structures and methodologies\: my critique of Catholicism as a ‘land of the fathers’ is also a clear part of this work.” (Pg. xi) She adds, “This book describes the anguish of women who feel rejected by the institutional church. At the same time, it celebrates the seeds of new life that are present in the women’s movement within the American Catholic church.” (Pg. xiv)

She states, “The American Catholic church has always counted on its women… There is no question that their work has been---and continues to be---done on a volunteer basis.. Whether the American Catholic church can continue to rely on us in this way is questionable… because we are changing. The feminist movement … has given women in the parish a new perspective and provided us with a means to interrogate the system. At the same time, there is some evidence that women who have actively participated in the women’s movement are quietly abandoning the church in search of alternative communities of celebration and support.” (Pg. 37)

She reports, “American sisters have many of the same frustrations as women in the parish: they have been confined to certain roles by way of sex-role stereotyping: Their lives, wardrobes, spirituality, and behavior have been set for them by far-removed males; and they have power within the church only insofar as they conform to traditional expectations and do not try to gain a hearing for any of their own issues. Their problems are exacerbated by their history of isolation, as well las by a tradition of superiority and an illusion of power.” (Pg. 71)

She says, “Since nuns have been in the ironic position of finding strength in their very powerlessness within the church, it may appear as if they offer the only correctives to the current malaise. In fact, however, American Catholic women have found several ways to test their collective strength as they attempt to stay within their tradition. Collaborative models of parish leadership, and participation in ecumenical groups like the Sojourners community are two ways Catholics have found to implement the structural goals of collegiality in their religious lives.” (Pg. 109)

She explains, “with attention to the work of Anne Carr, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, rosemary Radford Ruether, and Mary Daly, we should be able to formulate a general description Roman Catholic feminist theology and to demonstrate the broad range of questions it poses to traditional theology. Most of all, we should be able to see how it is that these theologians have laid the intellectual groundwork for a new Reformation.” (Pg. 146)

She suggests, “Spirituality is faith made explicit in life: one’s deepest convictions with respect to the ultimate are embodied in the relationships one has with others, with the created order, and with the divine. In traditional Roman Catholic teaching, spirituality is often described as an ascent motivated by a desire for union with God… Traditional Catholic spirituality had a decided masculine character to it, for just as the transcendent God mastered the chaos in order to create the world, so the spirit must master the flesh, the will master desire, in order to become obedient to the patriarchal God. In contemporary Catholicism, however, spirituality can be characterized as an openness both to the self and to God.” (Pg. 180-181)

She concludes, “this book has been organized around the need to change structures and to resist patriarchal patterns of authority, is has focused very much on women’s work… and action… New Catholic women, indebted to the theology of Vatican II and supported by the courage and questions of the women’s movement, are in the process of reimaging the church in our own terms. In that creative and partly subversive task we can clearly find support in collective action and what we have seen as political spirituality; but we also have a power in our own tradition---which is a gift as well as a burden.” (Pg. 212-213)

This book will interest Catholic feminists, and other progressive Catholics.