The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era by Mary J. Henold

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era by Mary J. Henold Sandra Yocum The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era. By Mary J. Henold. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. 233 pp. $29.95. Mary J. Henold, John R. Turbyfill Professor of History at Roanoke College, provides another major contribution to the history of U.S. Catholic women in The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era. As in her previous monograph, Catholic and Feminist: The Surprising History of the American Catholic Feminist Movement, Henold acts as a sure guide in exploring how, in this case, U.S. Catholic lay women made their way through the sometimes chaotic and often exhilarating intersection of Vatican II and the feminist movement that ran directly through their lives. Though usually eschewing the label "feminist," these women nevertheless challenged Catholicism's essentialist gender ideology of complementarity in their efforts "to remake American Catholic womanhood" (4). Henold names these efforts as "the laywoman project" with lay women acting as the principal agents (4). Henold, after introducing the monograph's organization and methods, includes a Prologue to delineate the stereotype that shaped Catholic lay women's preconciliar self-understanding. Lay women had a two-fold God-given purpose: self-sacrificing mothers who raised children for the priesthood and sisterhood. Women who pursued interests beyond motherhood or hesitated to promote religious vocations were castigated for selfishness and materialism. Henold then examines how a variety of Catholic lay women challenged this stereotype in the 1960s through the mid-1970s. Three of the four chapters examine archival materials of three Catholic laywomen's organizations: Theresians, National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW), and the Catholic Daughters of America/ Daughters of Isabella (Daughters). The remaining chapter, the book's third, features lay women's voices from Marriage magazine, published by Abbey Press, St. Meinrad's in Indiana. [End Page 106] What emerges is a complex narrative of U.S. Catholic women's reception of both Vatican II and feminism. Combing through the Theresian records, for example, Henold traces the influences of Vatican II and feminism in transforming Theresians' purpose from vocations to religious sisterhood to assisting every woman in discerning her God-given vocation, a calling no longer confined to the essentialist options: religious or married life. Unlike the Theresians and Daughters, who had prominent clerical leadership, the NCCW is a women-led organization. As her chapter's title, "Catholic (Non) Feminism" suggests, Henold challenges previous simplistic characterizations of the NCCW as antifeminist and offers evidence of its leadership's pragmatic moderate feminism. The NCCW's involvement in the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations highlights transnational dimensions of the Catholic laywoman project. With an interesting methodological twist, Henold turns her attention to lay women's voices in Marriage magazine to explore Catholic lay women's responses to changes around marriage, housewifery, sexuality, and work outside the home in the Vatican II era—topics, as she notes, rarely addressed in the records of the lay women's organizations. Marriage magazine proves to be a treasure trove of Catholic lay women's perspectives particularly in the magazine's "Speak Up" section. In the final chapter, Henold analyzes the Daughters' brief but genuine attempts to respond to Vatican II's call for engagement, in part, out of obedience to the organization's clerical leadership. As clerical reaction against Vatican II excesses emerged, the Daughters found allies in their resistance not only to feminism but also to the changing church. The Laywoman Project offers a much-needed correction to the simplistic post-conciliar feminist/anti-feminist narrative. Henold's careful analysis of wide-ranging sources reveals the complexity of Catholic lay women's responses to Vatican II and feminism. It simultaneously illustrates the tenacity of those who promoted essentialist complementarity ideology and the tenacity of Catholic women who questioned, modified, and even subverted that ideology, even when identifying as "(non) feminists." This narrative recognizes the varied interests of Catholic lay women, even in a common project, remaking "American Catholic womanhood." They acted upon their desires in areas related to vocation, spirituality, marriage and work life, sexual fulfillment...