Recovering Their Stories

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.

Celebrating the diverse contributions of Catholic lay women in 20th century AmericaRecovering 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 women's creative agency in their spirituality and devotional practices, their commitment to racial and economic justice, and their leadership and authority in sacred and public spacesTaken 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 women's 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.

IntroductionNicholas K. Rademacher and Sandra Yocum | 1"Pray for good sounds": Black Catholic Practice, Friendshipand Irreverence in the Intimate Correspondence of Mary Lou WilliamsVaughn A. Booker | 9Nina Polcyn: Living Art and Women's Leadership at St. Benet's BookstoreBrian J. Clites | 37Lucy Looks Twice: The Agency of Lay Lakota Catholic Women, and the Legacy of Nicholas Black ElkDamian Costello | 61Dolores Huerta Haciendo Más Caras: Navigating a Catholic World Not Scripted for HerNeomi De Anda | 71Catholic Laywomen's Natural Family Planning across Three GenerationsKatherine Dugan | 98Our Lady of the Liturgical Movement?Rejecting and Reclaiming Marian Devotion by American Catholic LaywomenKatharine E. Harmon | 116The Catholic Novel: Book Reviews in Katherine Burton's'Woman to Woman' Columns, 1933-1942Annie Huey | 139"We Are Not Here to Convict but to Convince":A Catholic Laywoman's Witness to Anti-Racism in Twentieth-Century PhiladelphiaMaureen H. O'Connell | 160Laywomen as Church Patrons: Clare Boothe LuceMarguerite Brunswig Staude, and Dominique de MenilCatherine R. Osborne | 186The Road to Friendship House: Ellen Tarry and Ann HarriganDiscern an Interracial Vocation in the US Catholic LandscapeNicholas K. Rademacher | 206From Grailville to the Universe:How the Grail Movement Widened the Possibilities for American Catholic LaywomenMarian Ronan | 229Laywomen Enacting the Mystical BodySandra Yocum | 250Acknowledgments | 271List of Contributors | 273Index | 275