Catholics Conflicts and Choices

Many Catholics today are disenchanted with the Church's continuing distrust of women and laity. But despite this widespread dissatisfaction traditional power relations have hardly changed over the last century. Catholics Conflicts and Choices presents detailed interviews with lay people priests Sisters and Christian Brothers each discussing their personal struggles with church teachings and practices. The conversations are selected to illustrate different experiences of power relations - particularly different aspects of gender dynamics - within the organisational structures of the Church. The interviews are examined within a framework of feminist sociological and psychological theory. Catholics Conflicts and Choices reveals how despite a long history of challenging official notions of authority and obedience and assumptions about intimate relationships there is little potential for change if the established power relations of the Church are not confronted. Language: English