Interrogating and Constructing the Authentic' Roman Catholic Church: Feminist Perspectives Among Canadian Women Religious
Based on qualitative interview and questionnaire data among 32 current and former women religious, this article explores the alternative constructions of the church by Canadian women religious and the corresponding practices they have engendered. It reviews the insights of feminist women religious w...
Main Author: | |
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Contributors: | |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage Publications
[2015]
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In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2015, Volume: 57, Issue: 3, Pages: 365-396 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Canada
/ Catholic church
/ Nun
/ Patriarchate
/ Spirituality
/ Feminism
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RelBib Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality FD Contextual theology KBQ North America KCA Monasticism; religious orders KDB Roman Catholic Church RB Church office; congregation |
Further subjects: | B
Authentic church
B Patriarchy B Feminist Spirituality B Catholic Church B women religious |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | Based on qualitative interview and questionnaire data among 32 current and former women religious, this article explores the alternative constructions of the church by Canadian women religious and the corresponding practices they have engendered. It reviews the insights of feminist women religious with respect to their understandings and experiences of patriarchal structures and practices within the Roman Catholic Church, their resistance to, and dismissal of these structures and practices, and the construction of understandings and practices which, for the women religious in our study, more closely correspond to their vision of the authentic' church than to the hierarchical and patriarchal practices with which they are institutionally familiar. In so doing, we highlight examples of the sisters' divergence from the patriarchal church, including their promotion and practice of feminist spirituality and activism. Our theoretical discussion of the constructions of the authentic' church within and alongside the hierarchical Catholic Church, as well as of the significance and challenges of these, are integrated throughout the recounting of the experiences of feminist women religious as they navigate the spaces they create in their relationship to the Church. |
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ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s13644-015-0207-4 |