Summoning everyday Catholic laywomen to the forefront of twentieth-century Catholic history, Mary J. Henold considers how these committed parishioners experienced their religion in the wake of Vatican II (1962–1965). This era saw major changes within the heavily patriarchal religious faith—at the same time as an American feminist revolution caught fire. Who was the Catholic woman for a new era? Henold uncovers a vast archive of writing, both intimate and public facing, by hundreds of rank-and-file American laywomen active in national laywomen's groups, including the National Council of Catholic Women, the Catholic Daughters of America, and the Daughters of Isabella. These records evoke a formative period when laywomen played publicly with a surprising variety of ideas about their own position in the Catholic Church. While marginalized near the bottom of the church hierarchy, laywomen quietly but purposefully engaged both their religious and gender roles as changing circumstances called them into question. Some eventually chose feminism while others rejected it, but most, Henold says, crafted a middle position: even conservative, nonfeminist laywomen came to reject the idea that the church could adapt to the modern world while keeping women's status frozen in amber.

Celebrating the diverse contributions of Catholic lay women in 20th century America Recovering Their Stories focuses on the many contributions made by Catholic lay women in the 20th century in their faith communities across different regions of the United States. Each essay explores the lives and contributions of Catholic lay women across diverse racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, addressing themes related to these women’s creative agency in their spirituality and devotional practices, their commitment to racial and economic justice, and their leadership and authority in sacred and public spaces Taken together, this volume brings together scholars working in what otherwise may be discreet areas of academic study to look for patterns, areas of convergence and areas of divergence, in order to present in one place the depth and breadth of Catholic lay women’s experience and contributions to church, culture, and society in the United States. Telling these stories together provides a valuable resource for scholars in a number of disciplines, including American Catholic Studies, American Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Feminist Studies, and US History. Additionally, scholars in the areas of Latinx studies, Black Studies, Liturgical Studies, and application of Catholic social teaching will find the book to be a valuable resource with respect to articles on specific topics.

Endorsements: "Thirty years after the close of Vatican II, we have this fresh revelation of the 'strange Roman experience' of the twenty-three women from fourteen different countries invited to be auditors at the previously all male Council. You will not want to stop before the end." -- Marie Augusta Neal, SND de Namur, Professor of Sociology, Emerita, Emmanuel College, Boston "An important and necessary history that will find great interest for a long time." --Bernard Haring, Moral Theologian "Facts buried in archives come alive in the living voices of these women who now share the 'dangerous memory' of their presence at Vatican II. Carmel McEnroy tells this story with keen insight into women's oppression in the Church, an eye for the humorous detail, and great narrative flair. Thank goodness she rescued this piece of history before it disappeared over the horizon like so much else." --Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ, Professor of Theology, Fordham University "This interesting historical investigation of the exclusion and participation of women at the Vatican Council reveals the dynamics of communication within the Church, including its systematic distortions and the forgiving fidelity of dedicated women. I am glad that this book has been written." --Gregory Baum, Professor of Theology, McGill University Author Biography: Carmel McEnroy, a Sister of Mercy and distinguished professor of theology, was fired in 1995 from St. Meinard Seminary for her public dissent from church teaching on women's ordination. Her name had appeared with hundreds of others in an advertisement questioning the issue in the National Catholic Reporter.

The year 2015 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council, which aimed to align the Church with the modern world. Over the last five decades, women religious have engaged with the council’s reforms with unprecedented enthusiasm, far exceeding the expectations of the Church. Addressing how Canadian women religious envisioned and lived out the changes in religious life brought on by a pluralistic and secularizing world, Vatican II and Beyond analyzes the national organization of female and male congregations, the Canadian Religious Conference, and the lives of two individual sisters: visionary congregational leader Alice Trudeau and social justice activist Mary Alban. This book focuses on the new transnational networks, feminist concepts, professionalization of religious life, and complex political landscapes that emerged during this period of drastic transition as women religious sought to reconstruct identities, redefine roles, and signify vision and mission at both the personal and collective levels. Following women religious as they encountered new meanings of faith in their congregations, the Church, and society at large, Vatican II and Beyond demonstrates that the search for a renewed vision was not just a response to secularization, but a way to be reborn as Catholic women.

Here is a moving and fascinating profile in courage, a compelling drama of committed women tunneling out from under dogma and denial toward enlightenment and adult responsibility. Brilliantly told by two heroic, sympathetic, and intensely contemporary women.

In this book, fourteen women religious tell their personal stories of the dramatic changes they experienced as a result of the Second Vatican Council. What they describe is radical renewal. Their stories chart journeys that took them from school classrooms to the wider world. Variously they went to universities, practiced canon law, became feminist theologians and biblical scholars, and worked with the marginalised and asylum seekers. The sisters contribution to the educational and cultural life of Australia has been largely anonymous and its significance understated. Within twenty years few religious orders will survive in Australia in their current form. This book is a timely record of the experiences of remarkable women. Aimed primarily at the general reader, it also provides material of value to the academic scholar and researcher. Click here to listen to Phillip Adams on Late Night Live interviewing Sr Joanna Bagot, Sr Libby Rogerson and Sr Maria Casey 'This book celebrates the successes, struggles and achievements of nuns in Australia, who created new ways to live and work and care for one another.' - Wendy Poussard, Arena magazine