The Feminine Genius & Catholic History
“The Feminine Genius & Catholic History,” presented by Bronwen McShea, took place at the McGrath Institute for Church Life conference True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture at the University of Notre Dame in March 2025, developed by Abigail Favale, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, Theology & Literature, at the McGrath Institute for Church Life.
Experience the Episode
Presented by McGrath Institute for Church Life
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 12:00 pm
Thirty years ago, in both Evangelium Vitae and his Letter to Women, Pope John Paul II issued a clear call for the genius of women to be “more fully expressed in the life of society as a whole, as well as in the life of the Church” (Letter to Women 10). Throughout his papacy, in fact, he emphasized women’s “prophetic character,” calling on them to be “witnesses” and “sentinels” — guardians of the sacred gift of life and the order of love (Mulieris Dignitatem 29; Homily at Lourdes 2004). “The Feminine Genius & Catholic History,” presented by Bronwen McShea, took place at the McGrath Institute for Church Life conference True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture at the University of Notre Dame in March 2025, developed by Abigail Favale, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, Theology & Literature, at the McGrath Institute for Church Life. McShea shares the great variety of compelling, inspiring, and yet little known, women who have helped shape the Church’s wonderfully deep, rich, and complex history.
Meet the Speaker: Bronwen McShea
Bronwen McShea, Ph.D. is the 2025 Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Fellow in Catholic Studies at Loyola University Chicago. She is a historian and the author so far of three monographs, including Women of the Church: What Every Catholic Should Know (Ignatius Press, 2024). Her writings have also appeared in an array of scholarly journals, such as The Sixteenth Century Journal and The Journal of Jesuit Studies, as well as popularly accessible forums such as The Wall Street Journal, First Things, and Church Life Journal. She has held research and teaching positions at several institutions, including Princeton University and Columbia University, and she holds a Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from Yale University and an M.T.S. in the History of Christianity and a B.A. in History from Harvard University.