Should Catholics identify as “feminists?” A panel of prominent female Catholic thinkers explored the question at a recent conference at the University of Notre Dame dedicated to the Church’s teaching on women, with some speakers embracing the strategic use of the term while others expressed uncertainty.

Those in favor of using the feminist label described it as rhetorical tool for finding common ground with non-Catholic women who might support practices like abortion and contraception but are nonetheless open to pursuing what is good for women.

“It has an instrumental use if we want to establish that we are both on the side of addressing the needs of women,” said Helen Alvaré, a legal scholar and Church leader who has advocated for the need for a “new feminism.”

Philosopher Melissa Moschella offered a similar perspective, encouraging attendees, which included religious sisters and nursing mothers, to call themselves feminists if doing so is useful with a particular audience, “and if it’s not, don’t.”

Abigail Favale, a theologian and the conference’s organizer, said that although she uses the term strategically to connect with various audiences, she is “very ambivalent” about whether Catholics should continue speaking positively about feminism.

Part of that is due to how opposed mainstream secular feminism has become to several important elements of Church teaching, but Favale also cited her own personal experience as a reason for concern.

Raised an evangelical, Favale began identifying as a feminist in college while reading feminist literature and theology. Initially, she said, she engaged with the arguments grounded in her faith but soon found herself “adapting Christianity to secular feminism.”

“It switched so subtly, almost without a conscious decision,” Favale shared, noting that she has seen something similar with Christian students she has taught who strongly associate themselves with feminism.

But other panelists suggested that there is value in Catholics appropriating the feminist label precisely because of the rise of so-called “red pilled” anti-feminist views, including among Catholics. These views, speakers argued, not only reject secular feminism but also recent magisterial teaching on the dignity of women.

“We have to defend women’s full rights and dignity,” said legal scholar Erika Bachiochi, who has argued that 19th-century feminism was motivated by Christian principles. “We have to tell young women today, ‘I’m with you, not with them.’”

And although “trad wife” influences are popular with young Catholic women right now, theologian Angela Franks said staking out a Catholic feminism now will be important in the event of widespread disillusionment with the anti-feminist turn.

“There’s going to be a backlash, and those women or their kids are going to be right back in the radical feminist camp” unless an alternative is provided, Franks said.

Whether the term “feminism” is employed or not, all panelists at Notre Dame agreed about the value of the Church’s ongoing focus on the unique mission of women and the need to promote justice for women in society.

“Women are equal in dignity, and they need specific advocacy because they are different,” said writer and policy analyst Leah Libresco Sargent, who added that the world treats women “like defective men.”

Another point of agreement was on the evangelical value of women embracing their femininity. Theologian Rachel Coleman underscored the importance of “living a joyful Catholic life and being happy you are a woman,” while Deborah Savage, director of the Institute for Men and Women at Franciscan University of Steubenville, encouraged attendees to “not apologize” for being women and to be proud of the gifts they “bring to the table.”

The panel took place in the aftermath of a somewhat contentious exchange of views on the merits of “Catholic feminism” in The Wall Street Journal. 

The debate was kicked off on March 13 when Bachiochi wrote a piece describing St. John Paul II as a “feminist pope.” Carrie Gress, who like Bachiochi is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, responded on March 20 that John Paul II’s teaching on women has nothing to do with feminist ideology, while Margaret McCarthy, a theologian at the John Paul II Institute, wrote a March 24 letter arguing the Bachiochi had reduced the Polish pontiff to “sound bites.”

At Notre Dame, the panel discussion brought to a close the three-day conference, which was titled “True Genuis: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture.” Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of John Paul II’s 1995 “Letter to Women,” the conference explored topics like “The Female Body and the Culture of Life” and “The Feminine Genius and Catholic History.” Perspectives on complementarity between the sexes and the development of the Church’s doctrine on women were also presented.

Participants in the closing panel also discussed other topics like the importance of women receiving education about their bodies and turning to Mary as a model of femininity and a protective mediator. They also addressed challenges like the rise of gender ideology, social norms that suggest children are oppressive, and anxiety over body image.

The thinkers also spoke about the need for Catholic women to have good mentors and draw inspiration from female saints throughout the Church’s history, from mystics to mothers, foundresses to theologians.

“We need to open up this world of holy women who lived radical lives of service to the Church,” Favale said. “We need a lot of different models of holy femininity.”