Celebrating the diverse contributions of Catholic lay women in 20th century America
Recovering Their Stories focuses on the many contributions made by Catholic lay women in the 20th century in their faith communities across different regions of the United States. Each essay explores the lives and contributions of Catholic lay women across diverse racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, addressing themes related to these womens creative agency in their spirituality and devotional practices, their commitment to racial and economic justice, and their leadership and authority in sacred and public spaces
Taken together, this volume brings together scholars working in what otherwise may be discreet areas of academic study to look for patterns, areas of convergence and areas of divergence, in order to present in one place the depth and breadth of Catholic lay womens experience and contributions to church, culture, and society in the United States. Telling these stories together provides a valuable resource for scholars in a number of disciplines, including American Catholic Studies, American Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Feminist Studies, and US History. Additionally, scholars in the areas of Latinx studies, Black Studies, Liturgical Studies, and application of Catholic social teaching will find the book to be a valuable resource with respect to articles on specific topics.
Introduction
Nicholas K. Rademacher and Sandra Yocum 1
"Pray for good sounds": Black Catholic Practice, Friendship,
and Irreverence in the Intimate Correspondence of Mary Lou Williams
Vaughn A. Booker 9
Nina Polcyn: Living Art and Women's Leadership at St. Benet's Bookstore
Brian J. Clites 37
Lucy Looks Twice: The Agency of Lay Lakota Catholic Women, and the Legacy of
Nicholas Black Elk
Damian Costello 61
Dolores Huerta Haciendo Mįs Caras: Navigating a Catholic World Not Scripted
for Her
Neomi De Anda 71
Catholic Laywomen's Natural Family Planning across Three Generations
Katherine Dugan 98
Our Lady of the Liturgical Movement?
Rejecting and Reclaiming Marian Devotion by American Catholic Laywomen
Katharine E. Harmon 116
The Catholic Novel: Book Reviews in Katherine Burton's
'Woman to Woman' Columns, 19331942
Annie Huey 139
"We Are Not Here to Convict but to Convince":
A Catholic Laywoman's Witness to Anti-Racism in Twentieth-Century
Philadelphia
Maureen H. O'Connell 160
Laywomen as Church Patrons: Clare Boothe Luce,
Marguerite Brunswig Staude, and Dominique de Menil
Catherine R. Osborne 186
The Road to Friendship House: Ellen Tarry and Ann Harrigan
Discern an Interracial Vocation in the US Catholic Landscape
Nicholas K. Rademacher 206
From Grailville to the Universe:
How the Grail Movement Widened the Possibilities for American Catholic
Laywomen
Marian Ronan 229
Laywomen Enacting the Mystical Body
Sandra Yocum 250
Acknowledgments 271
List of Contributors 273
Index 275
Nicholas K. Rademacher (Edited By) Nicholas K. Rademacher is professor in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Dayton. He is co-editor of the journal American Catholic Studies and author of Paul Hanly Furfey: Priest, Scientist, Social Reformer (Fordham, 2017). Sandra Yocum (Edited By) Sandra Yocum is University Professor of Faith and Culture at the University of Dayton. Her publications have addressed a wide range of topics in nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century US Catholicism, including papal authority, clergy sexual abuse, intellectual life, theological education, historiography, and spirituality.
