From the Pews in Back: Young Women and Catholicism [Paperback]

Kate Dugan (Editor), Jennifer Owens (Editor), Donna Freitas (Afterword), Mary Ann Hinsdale (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814632580 | ISBN-13: 978-0814632581 | Publication Date: July 2009 | Edition: 1st

From the Pews in the Back is a book filled with questions about Catholic identity. How do young Catholic women see or define themselves? What is their relationship to the church? What are their struggles and joys? In a church that often consigns them to the pews in the back, what place are young women claiming? This collection of twenty-nine essays approaches these questions from a multitude of angles. These brief memoirs, together with the insights of editors Kate Dugan and Jennifer Owens, offer a glimpse into what it means to be young, Catholic, and female in today s church. These women wrestle with the Catholic faith and with the church. They ask hard questions of the institution and are not willing to take easy answers.
From the Pews in the Back is a new chapter in the dialogue about the role of women in the church. The voices of these women range from inspiring and energetic to challenging and wounded. Ultimately, though, these women are stubbornly hopeful. They are claiming a place in the church and are calling other Catholics to talk with them about this claim.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"More testimony and crie de coeur than complaint, Kate Dugan's and Jen Owens's eloquent, often poetic collection of memoirs from young Catholic women is deeply rooted in their Catholic identity. These young women are willing to raise difficult questions, but always with an appreciation of a church that for all its failings has nourished their faith and remains for them a home. They represent a significant part of the Catholic community; their story deserves a hearing." --Thomas P. Rausch, SJ, T. Marie Chilton Professor of Catholic Theology, Loyola Marymount University, Author of Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice (Liturgical Press)

"In a church that does not always listen to the voices of women, it is critical that we have pages in which to share our stories and gain strength from one another s journeys. It is in the sharing of stories that hearts are changed and transformation begins. Read these stories, be inspired to share your story and, together, we ll move the church one step closer to justice!" --Nicole Sotelo, Author of Women Healing from Abuse: Meditations for Finding Peace (Paulist Press)

About the Author

Kate Dugan was baptized, made First Reconciliation, received First Communion, was confirmed, and married in Immaculate Conception Parish in Watertown, South Dakota. She graduated from the College of St. Benedict and received her Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. This fall, she will begin a PhD program in religion at Northwestern University. Jennifer Owens has spent most of her academic life and all of her teaching career in Catholic schools in Southern California. She earned her bachelor s degree in sociology and a master s degree in teaching from Loyola Marymount University. Jennifer recently completed her Master of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School and will begin doctoral studies in systematic and philosophical theology at the Graduate Theological Union this fall.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Liturgical Press; 1st edition (July 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814632580
• ISBN-13: 978-0814632581
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lapsed but not lifeless, October 7, 2009

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JEFFREY MCGRAW (New York USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From the Pews in Back: Young Women and Catholicism (Paperback)

In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with one of the contributors. Other things that bind me to this work are the facts that I am a Catholic since birth, not being given a choice at the time, and haven't bothered to change it since. But this isn't about me, it is about the brave women who took their faith seiously enough to expose their concerns, fears and yes, non-Catholic America, their hopes. While it is not mainstream and certainly even among Catholics might be on the outer edge does not diminish it's value. We are a nation of opinions, even those from arrogant talk show hosts or people on either side of the political spectrum, even Red Sox fans. Yet what makes this collection of essays so valuable to those of any faith is that these women were secure enough in their faith, however they define it, to put pen to paper, finger to keyboard or quill to papyrus.

I recommend this cornucopia of ideas to all those, again of any faith, to read, digest and apply to their own religious beliefs. This is a book that will provoke discussion, a frank exchange of ideas in a non-confrontational way which is what my Catholic Jesus would have wanted in my humble opinion. No opinion is wrong in this world. It is valued for it is a reasoned piece of one's soul bravely shared with the world which, in the last analysis enrichs us all.