Catholics, Conflicts and Choices

A Matter of Conscience: American Women Religious, Feminist Agency, and the Catholic Church

“…For many teaching congregations in the United States-including the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia-the stipend that sisters received was less than what was needed for basic subsistence, but this was often the price women religious paid to secure a place in the Church and secular society (Byrne 1986;Wittberg 1994). In situating their roles primarily as teachers and nurses within the sociological literature on gendered care work (Blau et al 2006;Coco 2014;England 2005;Hochschild 1983;Jacobs and Gerson 2005;Reskin 1988), religious sisters have traditionally done the "women's work" in the Church, and were compensated in much the same way as their secular counterparts, that is, little or not at all. This research focuses specifically on one congregation of American women religious, but it is situated within the larger global conversation of women's structural position in the Catholic Church, and their interaction with social and cultural movements.…”

“…This research focuses specifically on one congregation of American women religious, but it is situated within the larger global conversation of women's structural position in the Catholic Church, and their interaction with social and cultural movements. It is through these everyday lived religious and gendered experiences that sociologists of religion and historians increasingly focused their attention in the post-Vatican II years (Bruno-Jofré et al 2017;Coco 2014;Gervais 2018;Henold 2008;Katzenstein 1998;Koehlinger 2007;Mangion 2020;Wall 2015). For instance, in an analysis of power relationships in the Catholic Church in Australia, Coco (2014) writes about how tenuous power structures are maintained through a gendered regime in the Church through what the author calls "gender work in Christ's household."…”

“…Sister Margaret's conflict with her supervising pastor highlights the long-simmering tension between American religious sisters and patriarchal institutional structures in the Catholic Church. Experiences like these are not unique to American sisters however, and in fact are representative of the gendered challenges that women religious and lay women continue to negotiate around the globe (Coco 2014; Gervais 2018; Mangion 2020; Schneiders 2011). In many respects, religious sisters are the faces of the Church—as teachers, social workers, advocates, and ministers—yet their structural position as women prevents them from leadership or decision-making power in the Church they serve.…”

“…This research focuses specifically on one congregation of American women religious, but it is situated within the larger global conversation of women's structural position in the Catholic Church, and their interaction with social and cultural movements. It is through these everyday lived religious and gendered experiences that sociologists of religion and historians increasingly focused their attention in the post-Vatican II years (Bruno-Jofré et al 2017; Coco 2014; Gervais 2018; Henold 2008; Katzenstein 1998; Koehlinger 2007; Mangion 2020; Wall 2015). For instance, in an analysis of power relationships in the Catholic Church in Australia, Coco (2014) writes about how tenuous power structures are maintained through a gendered regime in the Church through what the author calls “gender work in Christ's household.” Gervais (2018) and Bruno-Jofré et al (2017) find similar structural constraints in their respective analyses of Canadian women religious.…”

“…It is through these everyday lived religious and gendered experiences that sociologists of religion and historians increasingly focused their attention in the post-Vatican II years (Bruno-Jofré et al 2017; Coco 2014; Gervais 2018; Henold 2008; Katzenstein 1998; Koehlinger 2007; Mangion 2020; Wall 2015). For instance, in an analysis of power relationships in the Catholic Church in Australia, Coco (2014) writes about how tenuous power structures are maintained through a gendered regime in the Church through what the author calls “gender work in Christ's household.” Gervais (2018) and Bruno-Jofré et al (2017) find similar structural constraints in their respective analyses of Canadian women religious. Despite these limitations, in the years of renewal after Vatican II, Canadian religious sisters repeatedly “walk the tightrope” as Gervais (2018) puts it—creatively finding solutions or workarounds to institutional barriers and “enacted agency, arising from a renewed reading of the Gospel, a commitment to social justice, and an awakening of their sense of personhood and search to reconstruct their communal and personal identity” (Bruno-Jofré et al 2017: 144).…”