Is there a Feminine Genius?

Experience the Episode

Presented by McGrath Institute for Church Life

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). “Is There a Feminine Genius?” a panel discussion with Deborah Savage, Sr. Theresa Aletheia, Abigail Favale, Sr. Ann Astell, and moderator Melissa Moschella, 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.

Meet the Faculty: Melissa Moschella

Melissa Moschella, Ph.D. is a philosopher whose work spans the fields of ethics, political philosophy, and law. Her areas of special expertise include natural law theory, biomedical ethics, and the family (especially parental rights). Even prior to joining the faculty at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, Melissa has been a frequent collaborator with the Notre Dame Office of Life and Human Dignity and the Science & Religion Initiative. She will continue to contribute to the mission of the MICL through her research, writing, teaching, and public speaking on a variety of contemporary topics, such as religious freedom, reproductive technologies, life issues, and issues related to marriage and family. Melissa is also affiliated with the Business, Ethics, and Society Program in the Mendoza School of Business, where she teaches on a regular basis. Before coming to Notre Dame, Melissa was Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, where she worked for over a decade.

Meet the Speaker: Sr. Theresa Aletheia

Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble is a Sister of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. Along with Sr. Danielle Victoria Lussier, she has begun a new, private association of the faithful with a mission of listening, outreach, and solidarity with people on the fringes or outside of the Church, especially people who have been wounded, scandalized, or abused by members of the Church. Their website is sistersofthelittleway.com.

Meet the Faculty: Sister Ann W. Astell

Sister Ann W. Astell is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of six books, most recently Eating Beauty: The Eucharist and the Spiritual Arts of the Middle Ages (2006), and is now completing a monograph on hagiography and the Bible. She has been the recipient of an N.E.H. fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. She has edited eight collections of essays, most recently Saving Fear in Christian Spirituality (2020). Past President of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality and also of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, she has published recently in Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Spiritus, Theological Studies, Marian Studies, and Religion and Literature.

Meet the Faculty: Abigail Favale

Abigail Favale is a writer and professor whose work lies at the intersection of Catholic theology, literature, and women’s studies. Her abiding interest as a writer and scholar is the meaning and dignity of woman, and her work explores sexual difference and embodiment in the Catholic imagination. She serves as professor of the practice of theology and literature.

Abigail supports MICL programming by writing and teaching on women, feminism, and gender from a Catholic perspective. She holds a concurrent appointment in the Department of Theology, where she teaches on topics like Edith Stein’s Theology of Woman and Religion & Literature.

Abigail has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from George Fox University, as well as a master’s degree in Women, Writing and Gender and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Her first book, Irigaray, Incarnation, and Contemporary Women’s Fiction (Palgrave 2013) was awarded the 2014 Feminist and Women’s Studies Association Book Award. Her second book is Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion (Cascade 2018), a spiritual memoir that traces her journey from birthright evangelicalism to postmodern feminism and, finally, to the Catholic Church. Abigail’s most recent book, The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory, was published in 2022 by Ignatius Press and has already been translated into multiple languages. Her numerous essays have appeared in MICL’s Church Life Journal, The Atlantic, First Things, Public Discourse, Comment, and elsewhere. Abigail is also a fiction writer and was awarded the J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction in 2017.

She lives with her husband, Michael, and their four children in South Bend, Indiana.

Meet the Speaker: Deborah Savage

Deborah Savage, Ph.D. is Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Dr. Savage is a student of St. Thomas Aquinas with a particular interest in investigating his thought in light of contemporary questions. Her research areas include: the nature of man and woman, the human person, the theological meaning of human work and the conversion of the acting person. She is a recognized scholar of the work of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II and has written and presented or published several papers on how his philosophical anthropology informs his body of work as Pope, his understanding of human work, the complementarity of man and woman, and of the dignity and vocation of women. She has written and presented many talks and papers on these topics both nationally and internationally.