Unruly Catholic Feminists: Prose, Poetry, and The Future of The Faith, a collection of writings edited by Jeana Delrosso, Leigh Eicke, and Ana Kothe, offers an intimate look at how Catholic women have attempted to reconcile their religion with the ideals of feminism. Through the use of creative and moving mediums, including short stories, personal essays, and poetry, this book allows the reader to see firsthand how modern women have addressed issues of faith, doubt, love, and shame, relying on their own interpretations of religion and feminism. It documents the struggles that women have gone through, and are still going through, in their fight to harmonize Catholicism with their own personal beliefs and values. The purpose of this volume is to shine a light on women who identify as Catholic or who were brought up in the Catholic Church. These women are given space to express their experiences as third- and fourth-wave feminists, and how these experiences are shaped or influenced by Catholicism. The book achieves this goal by allowing its contributors to tell their own stories. One of the biggest strengths of the book is that it allows each individual to share their accounts in their own way.
This book addresses several key subjects that are addressed in three sections, “Domestic and Global Social Justice,” “Sexuality and Motherhood,” and “Spiritual Activism and Utopian Vision.” Short stories, essays, and pieces of poetry make up each section. These literary pieces are utilized to either give firsthand accounts of specific women or to artistically convey themes or ideas surrounding feminism in the Catholic religion. The book does not shy away from discussing sensitive or controversial topics. There are several pieces that discuss religion and feminism within the context of racial identity and ethnicity. At least one piece was written in Spanish and translated into English for the volume.
One contributor writes of her own experience as a young girl facing racism and discrimination in her church, and how that impacted her view of religion as she grew up. The book also addresses subjects like abortion, with another contributor detailing her fertility treatment. She had to make a decision about selective reduction, and she explains how that decision was informed by her religious background, and how it went on to impact her faith moving forward. Autonomy and empowerment, and how religion has both empowered and disempowered individual women, are central themes of the book.
The poems and verses included in the book allow a fascinating look into how the themes of religion and feminism work together, in a way that short stories or chapters may not have been able to achieve; through this poetry, we gain deep insight into how individual people interpret their experience, and how it impacts how they look at the themes covered by the book. Some of the poems are about prayer and scripture—how they have helped an author find strength or peace, or about how they look differently through a feminist lens. Some contributors even rewrite prayers to further empower women and girls. Other poems revolve around specific biblical figures, especially the Virgin Mary. One poem analyzes how she has been portrayed by the Church, and how this compares to the author’s own understanding of her. Another discusses how Mary’s story is reflected in the experiences of contemporary women. Other poems look at the Church as a whole, comparing the sanctity and sacredness of the Church to women and their function in society.
One particularly impactful theme of the book concerns how women have sought to find comfort and strength in their faith, even though they find fault with the Catholic Church as an institution. One story narrates a woman’s attempt to seek justice for a community of disabled individuals, and who was denied support from her local church. Though this experience caused this woman to break with the Church, the story tells of her enduring faith in God and how this faith strengthened and encouraged her efforts. This story is particularly important, as it reflects many people’s relationship with religion in the modern day; many people express a lack of faith with churches or institutions, while still maintaining some level of belief in or love for God.
This work's biggest strength lies in how it is able to emphasize people’s lived experience through their own stories. The volume gives an extremely personal and raw account of how these women have used their feminism and their faith to try to better their lives and the world around them. It does a great job of showing exactly how these two ideals (faith and feminism) can coexist, but also contradict each other, in various situations. Another strength of the book is that it focuses on the religious experience of normal people who come from various backgrounds and are of various ethnic identities. This inclusivity is powerful and allows for several different points of view and ideas to emerge.
In conclusion, Unruly Catholic Feminists is a great example of how lived experiences can be utilized to explain complex ideas, such as the intersection between the Catholic faith and feminist ideals. This book is a great resource for a wide variety of readers, whether they are students studying topics like religion or gender studies, or whether they are simply interested in literature and poetry.
Tarynn Bridges is a graduate student in Women’s & Gender Studies in Religion and Applied Gender Studies at Claremont Graduate University.
Tarynn Bridges
Date Of Review:
March 13, 2024
