Women and the Catholic Church - (Bloomsbury Studies in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality) by Tracy McEwan (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book develops a new methodological framework for analysing the power, participation, and identity of women in patriarchal religious institutions. It theorises the harm women experience in Catholicism as a quotidian form of gendered violence, and conceptualises and defines "everyday spiritual abuse". The book also critically examines how women negotiate and subvert hegemonic systems of power and knowledge in Catholicism through an in-depth exploration of the lived identities and experiences of Gen X women in Australia"--

Book Synopsis

How do Catholic women make sense of their involvement in a church with restrictive gendered roles and responsibilities? Is there a vision for church which might provide Catholic women with a faith community of hope, justice and flourishing?
Introducing a new methodological approach to the study of Catholic women, this book provides fresh insights into women's religious and spiritual experiences and church participation. Drawing on a case study of Australian Catholic women, Tracy McEwan develops the notion of "technologies of Catholicism" to explore the ways in which women shape their religious and secular identities against the backdrop of a masculinist Church.
This book is a key resource for those seeking to understand women's struggle to negotiate the impact of Catholicism and its oppressive gendered theologies. It introduces the term "everyday spiritual abuse" to explain the harm Catholic women experience on a day-to-day basis as they negotiate multiple material, spiritual, and structural inequalities. It proposes an alternative feminist model of church, which is contained and produced in the herstories of women.

Review Quotes

Pope Francis' Synodal project has evaporated into irrelevance for women of the Catholic Church who had hoped for a breakthrough in misogynistic magisterial resistance. It's devastating consequences in the lived lives of Catholic women are chronicled here. This book is a warning to the Magisterium of the anger and frustration building among the vast majority of faithful who believe in gender equality, see it as God given and its denial as utterly wasteful of Gods gifts.
Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland and Chancellor of the University of Dublin, Ireland

This book is an important contribution to critical feminist theology. McEwan identifies the key issues that harm women in the Catholic system and examines brilliantly Catholic women's potential for agency in the power regime of Catholicism.
Ute Leimgruber, Universität Regensburg, Germany

Tracy McEwan utilises social science and a keen understanding of religion to explain the systemic marginalization of Catholic women in church, carefully analysing the often painful stories of Gen X women. As these women claim power and authority to be religious on their own inclusive terms, the spiritual landscape is changing before our eyes. This landmark study leaves no doubt that the Catholic Church is in serious danger of extinction if women remain marginalized.
Mary E. Hunt, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, USA

About the Author

Tracy McEwan is a theologian and sociologist of religion and gender affiliated with the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her writing and research interests include women in Catholicism; domestic and family violence; sexual and spiritual abuse; gender, sexuality, and women's religious experience.