Student Colloquium | "Catholicism, Feminism, and Politics"

Catholicism, Feminism, and Politics (March 28-29)

Discussion leaders: Margaret Freddoso and Gabby Girgis

 

This colloquium will help students engage ongoing debates about whether Catholicism is compatible with feminism, considered not only as a philosophical, political, and legal movement but more deeply as a set of anthropological starting points. We will first examine foundational ideas about the end or purpose of the human person, and the meaning of sexual difference and equality, as articulated both within the Catholic tradition and in sources of modern political thought that inspired early feminists. We will then explore how competing perspectives on these topics have shaped practical ideas about men and women's roles within marriage, professional work, and the broader society. Discussing these large scale topics will help us narrow in, finally, on specific policy questions that drive today's debates about whether Catholics can be feminists, such as the legality of abortion, the merits of anti-discrimination law, and the justice of paid family leave policies. The goal is for students to come away with their own perspective on whether there is a strand of feminist thought (including both philosophical premises and political-moral conclusions drawn from them) that can be reconciled with an authentically Catholic understanding of the human person.