“Is Catholicism’s ‘Woman Problem’ a History Problem?”: Spring 2025 Teilhard Lecture by Dr. Bronwen McShea

The Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage recently welcomed Dr. Bronwen McShea as the Spring 2025 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Fellow in Catholic Studies. Dr. McShea is a historian and author of Women of the Church: What Every Catholic Should Know (Ignatius Press, 2024), La Duchesse: The Life of Marie de Vignerot, Cardinal Richelieu’s Forgotten Heiress Who Shaped the Fate of France (Pegasus Books, 2023), and Apostles of Empire: The Jesuits and New France (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). She is currently teaching one course for the History Department, “Women in Catholic History,” focusing on influential women within the history of the Catholic Church from the era of the Church Fathers through the 20^th Century. Dr. McShea will be delivering this year’s Teilhard Lecture, entitled, “Is Catholicism’s ‘Woman Problem’ a History Problem?” on Thursday, March 20, at 7:00 p.m. on the 4th Floor of the Information Commons.

Dr. McShea has written about the history of understudied Catholic women, and her scholarship focuses on the ways in which laywomen have at times exercised more leadership within the Church, even at high levels, than most existing narratives of Church history allow.  In 2023, she published a biography of a French Catholic duchess, Marie de Vignerot, whose major, diverse contributions to the development and global expansion of Catholic institutions were amply acknowledged by popes, bishops, and statesmen in her time. While the duchess had been highly influential within the Church, her contributions to its history had been largely overshadowed by those of her uncle, Cardinal Richelieu. Through her research, Dr. McShea found that histories of the Catholic Church have inadvertently and intentionally marginalized lay people and women.

While many Catholics are familiar with prominent female saints, they have little awareness of the roles which lesser-known women played in shaping the Church’s traditions and development. In Catholic intellectual life, a lack of meaningful engagement with this history has created a forgetfulness of the influence which these women exercised within the Church. In Women of the Church: What Every Catholic Should Know, Dr. McShea addresses this forgetfulness by presenting a survey of influential female figures from throughout Church history.

Dr. McShea argues that recognizing this history provides context for developments today. Earlier this year, Pope Francis appointed women to leadership roles within the Vatican dicastery. This decision was hailed as unprecedented. However, a closer examination of Church history reveals that this appointment is not as unprecedented as it might first appear. Women in past centuries at times occupied certain governance roles within the Church, and their leadership was integral to its development.

Dr. McShea’s Teilhard Lecture will focus on perceptions of a “woman problem” within the Church and its relationship to a larger forgetfulness of women’s influence in Church history. The event is free and all are welcome. To learn more, visit the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage’s website.