This collection attends to western women's struggles within Roman Catholicism by examining how women throughout the centuries have attempted to reconcile their unruliness with their Catholic backgrounds or conversions.

A literary anthology exploring contemporary Catholic women’s experiences. This unique literary anthology is devoted to unruly Catholic women. In short stories, poems, personal essays, and drama, the contributors describe women’s struggles with Catholicism and also complicate contemporary understandings of women’s relationships to their faith. Catholicism often oppresses the women in these creative pieces, but it also inspires them to challenge literary, social, political, and religious hierarchies. The collection reflects the considerations of a wide range of women from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, geographic locations, and generations; they encompass the gamut of reactions to the Catholic experience—humor, anger, nostalgia, critique, appreciation, and engagement or rejection on one’s own terms. Authors address real life versus Catholic dogma, motherhood, childhood, alienation from the Church, Catholic school days, mentors and exemplary figures, Church strictures on women’s sexualities, and leaving or remaining in the Church among many other experiences. Readers will find this a rich and multifaceted exploration, one that offers new perspectives and moments of recognition.

A collection of creative pieces, Unruly Catholic Feminists explores how women are coming to terms with their feminism and Catholicism in the twenty-first century. Through short stories, poems, and personal essays, third- and fourth-wave feminists write about the issues, reforms, and potential for progress. Giving voice to many younger writers, the book includes a variety of geographic and ethnic points of view from which women write about their experiences with Catholicism and their visions for the future. While change in the church may be slow to come, even the promise of progress may provide hope for women struggling with the conflicts between their religion and their sense of their own spirituality. Rather than always only oppressing or containing women, Catholicism also drives or inspires many to challenge literary, social, political, or religious hierarchies. By examining how women attempt to reconcile their unruliness with their Catholic backgrounds or conversions and their future hopes and dreams, Unruly Catholic Feminists offers new perspectives on gender and religion today—and for the days yet to come.

Explores the voices of current and former Catholic nuns as they share their lived experiences with Catholicism, both in accordance and in conflict with the institutional Church. Unruly Catholic Nuns explores the voices of current and former Catholic nuns and, by doing so, contributes to the global conversation about the role of women in the Catholic Church today. Through autobiography, fiction, poetry, and prose, Sisters and former nuns write about their lived experiences with Catholicism, both in accordance and in conflict with the institutional Church. Through their stories we learn how these women act out their missions of social justice, challenge cultural and governmental policies, and attempt to reconcile their unruliness with their religious orders and the strictures of the church hierarchy. At a time when questions of gender, religion, race, and sexuality are provoking intense debate within Catholicism and other Christian traditions, and when religion is frequently invoked in political rhetoric, these stories provide a vital corrective to our contemporary understanding of the role of women and nuns in the Roman Catholic Church. Jeana DelRosso is Professor of English and Women’s Studies and Director of the Elizabeth Morrissy Honors Program at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Leigh Eicke is a writer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ana Kothe is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Together, they are the coeditors of Unruly Catholic Women Writers: Creative Responses to Catholicism, also published by SUNY Press.

Essays in Unruly Catholics explore how renowned Catholic literary figures Dante Alighieri, Oscar Wilde, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Gerard Manley Hopkins dealt with the disparities between their personal beliefs and the Church’s official teachings. Contributors also suggest how controversial entertainers such as Madonna, Kevin Smith, Michael Moore, and Stephen Colbert practice forms of Catholicism perhaps worthy of respect. Most pointedly, Unruly Catholics addresses the recent sex abuse scandals, considers the possibility that the Church might be reformed from within, and presents three iconic figures—Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and C.S. Lewis—as models of compassionate and reformist Christianity.

In 1933, in the shadow of the Great Depression, Dorothy Day started the most prominent Catholic radical movement in United States history, the Catholic Worker Movement, a storied organization with a lasting legacy of truth and justice. Day's newspaper, houses of hospitality, and ministry of paying attention to the inequality of her world would eventually become world famous, just as she--a high-energy activist with a cigarette in one hand and a coffee cup in the other--would become a figure of promise for the poor. The ways in which Day and her fellow workers both found the love of God in and expressed it for their neighbors during a time of great social, political, economic, and spiritual upheaval would become a model of activism for decades to come. In Unruly Saint, activist, writer, and neighbor D. L. Mayfield brings a personal lens to Day's story. In exploring the founding of the Catholic Worker movement and newspaper by revisiting the early years of Day's life, Mayfield turns her attention to what it means to be a good neighbor today. Through a combination of biography, observations on the current American landscape, and theological reflection, this is at once an achingly relevant account and an encouraging blueprint for people of faith in tumultuous times. It will resonate with today's activists, social justice warriors, and those seeking to live in the service of others.

Explores the voices of current and former Catholic nuns as they share their lived experiences with Catholicism, both in accordance and in conflict with the institutional Church. Unruly Catholic Nuns explores the voices of current and former Catholic nuns and, by doing so, contributes to the global conversation about the role of women in the Catholic Church today. Through autobiography, fiction, poetry, and prose, Sisters and former nuns write about their lived experiences with Catholicism, both in accordance and in conflict with the institutional Church. Through their stories we learn how these women act out their missions of social justice, challenge cultural and governmental policies, and attempt to reconcile their unruliness with their religious orders and the strictures of the church hierarchy. At a time when questions of gender, religion, race, and sexuality are provoking intense debate within Catholicism and other Christian traditions, and when religion is frequently invoked in political rhetoric, these stories provide a vital corrective to our contemporary understanding of the role of women and nuns in the Roman Catholic Church. “I love this book! I swear I do, for though my Sister-teachers taught me not to swear, they also winked me permission to dare. In Unruly Catholic Nuns, these Sisters are unveiled: we get to hear voices long repressed by a religious hierarchy which relegated them to meek handmaidenship and silent subservience. Many stayed and fought to reform this patriarchy from within; others renounced their vows in order to pursue a more liberating spiritual path. God bless this sassy book for (finally) giving voice to an engaging chorus of lively, spirited storytellers.” — Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies and, most recently, Where Do They Go? “‘They want the trappings, you want the marrow.’ This line from Ann Breslin’s essay in Unruly Catholic Nunshighlights the struggle running throughout these accounts by women fighting to uphold the values of their faith. They are radical, wild, and loving in the face of an unresponsive institution. Through this rich collection of personal reflections, these brave women show themselves to be the beating heart of the Catholic Church.” — Sonja Livingston, author of Ghostbread “Unruly Catholic Nuns would be an important book in any time but at this time it’s absolutely vital. We need models of daring women compelled to speak and live their truths. Unruly Catholic Nuns is a hand at my back saying, ‘Yes, you can do the work you’re called to do; against all odds, I have.’ This is a book for those who follow the faith and those who don’t because within these pages we can all find courage, determination and wisdom. At a time when women’s strength and leadership is going to be imperative, here are stories to gain strength from, to help us move forward in both small ways and big.” — Patrice Vecchione, author of Step into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life