How Did Catholic Women Participate in the Rebirth of American Feminism?

Endnotes

Introduction

1. The term "Second-wave feminism" refers to the revitalization of the American feminist movement beginning in the early 1960s.

   Back to Text

2. Few histories of second-wave feminism include any mention of Catholic feminists, although they usually cite the church's strong opposition to feminism. See, for example, Ginette Castro, American Feminism: A Contemporary History, trans. by Elizabeth Loverde-Bagwell (New York: New York University Press, 1990), pp. 48-50. For a more inclusive account, see Blanche Linden-Ward and Carol Hurd Green, American Women in the 1960s: Changing the Future (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992), pp. 183-93.

   Back to Text

3. For a discussion of how historians of feminism have approached religion, see Ann Braude, Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, 2nd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), pp. xxi-xxiii.

   Back to Text

4. For discussions of "the click," see Anita Shreve, Women Together, Women Alone: The Legacy of the Consciousness-Raising Movement (New York: Viking Penguin, 1989), pp. 53-55 and Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Ann Snitow, eds. The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women's Liberation (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998), pp. 7-8.

   Back to Text

5. Sandra Marie Schneiders, a scholar of contemporary Catholic feminism, argues that Catholic feminism was "actually more indigenous to the Church itself than an import from the surrounding culture." See Sandra Marie Schneiders, With Oil in Their Lamps: Faith, Feminism, and the Future (New York: Paulist Press, 2000), p. 62.

   Back to Text

6. "St. Joan's (Joan of Arc) International Alliance (United States Section)," flier, c. 1971, Mary B. Lynch Papers 4/46, Archives of the University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, Notre Dame, Indiana. Emphasis in original.

   Back to Text

7. For brief histories of Catholic feminism in America, see Rosemary Rader, OSB, "Catholic Feminism: Its Impact on United States Catholic Women," in American Catholic Women: A Historical Exploration, ed. Karen Kennelly, CSJ (New York: Macmillan, 1989) and Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Skinner Keller eds., In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women's Religious Writing (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995).

   Back to Text

8. The term "woman religious" refers to a woman customarily called a nun. Technically, the term "nun" means a vowed woman who lives a cloistered, contemplative life, while the term "woman religious" or "sister" refers to a vowed woman who is not cloistered.

   Back to Text

9. For a history of the Grail see Janet Kalven, Women Breaking Boundaries: A Grail Journey, 1940-1995 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999). For the Christian Family Movement, see Jeffrey M. Burns, Disturbing the Peace: A History of the Christian Family Movement (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999).

   Back to Text

10. For a history of women at Vatican II, see Carmel McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II (New York: Crossroad, 1996).

   Back to Text

11. For a first-hand account of the case, see Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey with Jane O'Reilly, No Turning Back: Two Nuns' Battle with the Vatican over Women's Right to Choose (New York: Poseidon Press, 1990).

   Back to Text

   


back to top