Recovering Their Stories

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 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 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 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.

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 Más 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, 1933–1942
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