Ruth A. Wallace

CATHOLIC WOMEN AND THE CREATION OF A NEW SOCIAL REALITY

This article presents a sociological analysis of the changing role of women in the Catholic church over the past twenty years. The theoretical framework is drawn from The Social Construction of Reality by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1967). Data are derived from the documents of Vatican II, the revised Code of Canon Law, research from 1965 to the present, and exploratory interviews with Catholic women recently appointed as church administrators. The article concludes with a discussion of future prospects regarding the new social reality for Catholic women.

The Social Construction of a New Leadership Role: Catholic Women Pastors

Aujourdhui, pres de 2 % des paroisses catholiques aux Etats-Unis sont tenues par des femmes, un phenomene relativement inconnu mais croissant. Larticle propose dans un premier temps une breve description des facteurs qui sont a lorigine de ce phenomene nouveau, notamment limpact du Concile du Vatican et les changements demographiques internes et externes. Puis il utilise les concepts cles de la theorie de la construction sociale de Berger et de Luckmann, pour analyser le style de conduite collaborative des femmes pasteurs dans vingt paroisses des Etats-Unis

Joseph H. Fichter's Contributions to Feminism

Joseph Fichters publications on varic)us aspects of Catholicistn in America, such as the parish, priests, and schools are well known. However, his work regarding women in the church, as well as his activities on the part of woluen in general, have been less visible. This is an attempt to begin to bring into view Fichters contributions to feminism, and as he would have worded it, to set the record straight.1 This is Iny second attempt to link Joseph Fichter ancl feminism. Thfe first occurred in 1987 when I presented a paper at a special session of the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society horloring Joseph H. Fichter, orS ganized by Wade Clark Roof. The paper was entitled Joseph H. Fichter as Feminist, and it was subsequently published irl the rwewsletter of the SSS. Some of the material presented here is drawn from that paper. At the outset the term feminism, which includes both ideological and behavioral aspects, needs to be defined. According to the latest Random House dictionary (1987: 708), feminism is defined as. 1) The doctrine advocating soo cial, political, and all other rights nf women equal to those of men. 2) An ongoing movement for the attainment of such rights for women. As an ideology, then, feministn requires an explanation for gender inequality, and encourages activity on behalf of womens rights and interests. As a social movement, feminism has as its goal the attainment of social, political, and economic rights for women that will give them equality with men. However, Bell Hooks (1993: 507) has expanded the dictionary definition of feminism to include the following elements: