Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church - Softcover

Bonavoglia, Angela

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060570636 ISBN 13: 9780060570637

Publisher: HarperOne, 2006

Synopsis

The widely exposed transgressions of priests within the Catholic Church stunned the faithful and sent a new surge of energy through the progressive church reform movement in the United States. Despite the movement's growing profile, the world has only recently learned that Catholic women are the driving force behind reform. Good Catholic Girls is a lively account of these courageous women, as seen through the eyes of an impassioned journalist, Angela Bonavoglia. They include Joan Chittister, the Benedictine nun who refused to obey a Vatican order not to speak at an international conference for women's ordination groups; Mary Ramerman, ordained a Catholic priest before 3,000 jubilant supporters; Frances Kissling, whose fight for women's reproductive rights has shaken the Church at its highest levels; Barbara Blaine, a priest abuse survivor who created the nation's most powerful voice for victims; and Sister Jeannine Gramick, who built a pioneering ministry to gays and lesbians, despite Vatican orders to silence her and ban her work.

Backed by supporters worldwide, these and other women are rethinking Catholic theology, changing the face of ministry, and resurrecting the lost lives of female church leaders. As Bonavoglia shows, the hierarchy ignores them at its peril.

About this title

About the Author

Angela Bonavoglia is a nationally recognized writer on women's issues and church reform whose work has appeared in The Nation, Chicago Tribune, Ms., Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and Newsday, among others. She is the author of The Choices We Made: Twenty-five Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion, which was featured on Oprah. She lives with her husband in Westchester County, New York.

From Publishers Weekly

A seasoned journalist who writes on social and religious issues, Bonavoglia interviewed hundreds of Catholic women—some in their 20s, most middle-aged or older, some traditionalist, most progressive—in order to show "how the Church has tried to silence women through time... and how Catholic women, undaunted, have persevered." Some chapters profile individuals such as Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun from Minnesota who defied a Vatican command, and Elizabeth Johnson, an academic who became Catholic University's first tenured female theologian only after defending herself before a committee of cardinals. Some describe groups in which women play a major role, such as Voice of the Faithful, formed to respond to the recent sexual abuse and cover-up scandals. Much of the book, however, is devoted to the many women who work behind the scenes—often in the face of formidable opposition—on behalf of mostly liberal issues such as gay and lesbian rights, reproductive choice, fair treatment of the divorced and the full inclusion of women in church life. Bonavoglia's accumulation of evidence points to serious structural flaws in the church, many of them caused or exacerbated by its systematic exclusion of women from leadership. Though conservatives will disagree with her suggested reforms, many readers will welcome this compelling account of what dedicated Catholic women are accomplishing for the church they love. (Mar.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0060570636
• ISBN 13: 9780060570637
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352