I began to wonder if my girlhood vision of femininity was just the stuff of fiction, as fantastical as dragons and magic spells. I became aware of the myriad ways I did not fit the feminine ideal of the culture around me. I began to wonder: if womanhood is a narrow box, shaped only for the quiet, the docile, the delicate, is there room in womanhood for me?
Read More“I think sometimes people think that by the vow of celibacy I have closed myself off, but I’ve actually opened myself to the entire world. and so I am not for one, so that I can be for all.”
Read More“Who I am in every way — as a Filipino, as an American, as a cajun, as an artist, as a woman — all of these things help me in my service to the Church and to the world.”
Read More"I grew up in the context of a very mission-oriented home…So growing up in that, [I learned] that we were in a position where we can help and so we must. It’s not something that ‘would have been nice’ — like ‘wouldn’t it be nice if we helped out our neighbor’ — no, you have to, you must."
Read More“From a pretty young age I felt like I didn’t fit the mold of femininity or what it meant to be a little girl. …So I started to question as a very young girl ‘am I good?’ and ‘where do I fit?’”
Read More"[To me] Catholic feminism held on to what it meant to be a woman and the sacredness of our biology, of our charisms. Catholic feminism held on to woman herself rather than just accommodating woman to a male-dominated world where man is the standard and women are fitting the mold however they can."
Read MoreDr. Abigail Favale explores common theories of gender relations and describes how the Catholic Church's vision of complementarity differs from other interpretations of complementarity.
Read MoreDr. Abigail Favale explores some of the common understandings of gender and sex, and shares an alternative perspective on gender.
Read MoreDr. Abigail Favale explores some of the common understandings of gender and sex, and shares an alternative perspective on gender.
Read MoreDr. Abigail Favale discusses the problems of Christian purity culture.
Read MoreDr. Abigail Favale describes Mary's role in the New Feminism.
Read MoreDr. Abigail Favale identifies some of the problems with thinking about gender in terms of roles and explores the Catholic Church's vision of the feminine genius.
Read MoreI am a recovering perfectionist. I like rules, rituals, and traditions. I do well with clear expectations and strong boundaries. I like knowing what things are and what boxes they fit in. I expect strict and effective justice, as if that can be accomplished in our world.
Read MoreI know, we have heard it a thousand times before: we are God’s beloved children. We have heard it so many times now that it can roll off us a little too quickly instead of resting on us; this fact that every unique gift we enjoy is because of the Fatherhood of God and our identity as his child, a daughter before him. But I have had to struggle and grapple to really believe that I am a beloved daughter, and so my faith in this truth today is one of my greatest gifts and joys.
Read MoreI am at the cemetery with a birthday cake. I am three years old. The cake is white and the candles are red. My mom and I are blowing them out and singing happy birthday, hushed so we don’t disrupt a family nearby. We keep a small garden shovel and watering can in the trunk so we can always take care of the flowers. My mom is 30 years old. My dad will always be 27.
Read MoreLike many girls, I assumed my mother's identity until I discovered my own. My mother was my first example of a strong, career-driven woman who did not put her husband or her children on the altar of sacrifice. Although I admire her personal achievements, it is my mother's thirst for God in the sacraments that was my childhood inspiration.
Read MoreToo often women are reduced to their emotional life which – while beautiful –does not encompass all that we are.
Read MoreGod wanted to use me to do great things. My womanhood (or what I thought it meant then) for his glory.
Read MoreGod calls every woman to holiness, and each one of us will live out that call differently, just as the saints have. We cannot forget the fact that Catholic means universal, so the many different ways in which each of us is called to live out the faith are diverse and reflect that universality of the Church. This is something to be celebrated.
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