Call for Papers: "The Feminine Genius in the Pursuit of the Common Good"

Clear your calendars for next October!  It will be the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of Mulieris Dignitatem, Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter on the dignity and vocation of women.  As Rob pointed out recently, Ave Maria and Catholic Law School are co-sponsoring a fantastic "Celebration of the Twentieth Anniversary of Mulieris Dignitatem" in D.C. at the beginning of the month (Oct. 3--4). 

At the end of the month (Oct. 23-24) here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul, a conglomerate of departments and institutes at the University of St. Thomas are sponsoring two consecutive, thematically-related one-day conferences exploring the contributions women are called to make in the pursuit of the common good.  The first conference is Mulieris Dignitatem and the Church's Social Vision:  The Feminine Genius in the Pursuit of the Common Good, co-sponsored by the Murphy Institute for Law and Public Policy, the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, the Center for Catholic Studies, the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Departments of Philosophy and Theology.  The second is Visions of Woman's Leadership, co-sponsored by the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership and the UST School of Law.

The organizers are issuing a call for paper proposals for the first conference.  Here's the call:

The first conference is in honor of the 20^th anniversary of the promulgation of the Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem. Its aim is to engage scholars and practitioners in a consideration of several questions: What is the feminine genius and how can its existence be verified? Within which philosophical or theological categories can it be included? What is the role of the feminine genius in the world? What is its relationship to the complementarity of men and women? Should the feminine genius be more explicitly enlisted in the effort to make life more “human” for all, and if so, how? What are the indispensable contributions of women?

We invite papers that treat these questions in relation to both their philosophical and theological foundations and in light of five categories that, according to scholar Michael Schuck, emerge in a historical study of the Catholic Social Tradition: the religious, political, familial, economic, and cultural dimensions of community life, In addition, we are interested in papers that investigate the public policy implications that follow from these categories and that reflect on the ways that women can make a particular and concrete contribution to the pursuit of the common good.

Proposals should be sent by June 30, 2008 to Dr. Deborah Savage at: [email protected]

More details about both conferences, and the Call for Papers, are available below.

The University of St. Thomas is holding two consecutive conferences, both with the aim of exploring the contributions women are called to make in the pursuit of the common good. The conferences are the result of collaboration between the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, the Center for Catholic Studies, the Murphy Institute for Law and Public Policy, and the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership.

The symposium begins the evening of October 22 with a key note address by Ms. Mary Beth Bonacci. Two thematically related one-day conferences follow on October 23-24. Dr. Pia Francesca de Solenni, the winner of the Pontifical Award for her dissertation on the feminine genius in light of the work of St. Thomas Aquinas, will give the keynote address at the first conference. Ms. Hanna Suchoka, former Prime Minister of Poland and currently the Polish Ambassador to the Apostolic See, has been invited to give the keynote address at the second conference.

We are issuing a call for paper proposals for the first conference, “The Feminine Genius in the Pursuit of the Common Good,” though attendees are invited and encouraged to attend the second conference, “Visions of Women’s Leadership,” sponsored by the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership. The first conference is in honor of the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem. Its aim is to engage scholars and practitioners in a consideration of several questions: What is the feminine genius and how can its existence be verified? Within which philosophical or theological categories can it be included? What is the role of the feminine genius in the world? What is its relationship to the complementarity of men and women? Should the feminine genius be more explicitly enlisted in the effort to make life more “human” for all, and if so, how? What are the indispensable contributions of women?

We invite papers that treat these questions in relation to both their philosophical and theological foundations and in light of five categories that, according to scholar Michael Schuck, emerge in a historical study of the Catholic Social Tradition: the religious, political, familial, economic, and cultural dimensions of community life. [Michael J. Schuck. That They Be One: The Social Teaching of the Papal Encyclicals, 1740-1989 (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1991), 4.] In addition, we are interested in papers that investigate the public policy implications that follow from these categories and that reflect on the ways that women can make a particular and concrete contribution to the pursuit of the common good.

Proposals should be sent by June 30, 2008 to Dr. Deborah Savage at: [email protected].

The documentary heritage of Catholic Social Thought has traditionally included papal encyclicals and other writings concerned primarily with issues of justice in the economic sphere. Scholars of the tradition have tended to focus their reflections on this arena, resulting in a vast treasury of thought on how the human community might come to “live in peace secured by justice.” [William Byron, "The Social Question: Who Asks? Who Answers? in "On the Condition of Labor and the Social Question One Hundred Years Later: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Rerum Novarum, and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Association for Social Economics", ed. Thomas O. Nitsch, Joseph M. Phillips, Jr., and Edward L. Fitzsimmons, Toronto Studies in Theology Volume 69. (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1994) 17]

But the recent publication of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace illuminates the fact that the Catholic Social Tradition encompasses not only concerns for human dignity and community in the economic sphere, but extends its scope to the role of the family and the unique contributions of women in bringing about a just society. Documents such as John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation on the family, Familiaris Consortio, as well has both of his letters to women, the Apostolic Letter of 1988, Mulieris Dignitatem, and the letter of 1995, are included and referred to at some length. The Compendium appropriates for the Church’s social tradition not only the topic of women and work and the labor question, but also the equality and complementarity of men and women, human sexuality and reproduction and the particular role of women in promoting the culture of life. [See Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005]

The Compendium states explicitly that the “feminine genius is needed in all expressions in the life of society, therefore the presence of women in the workplace must be guaranteed.” [Ibid, 295] This statement seems to imply two things: first, that women “belong” everywhere, and second, that this is so because women bring something to community life that is unique to female personhood. A further, if unstated implication is that whatever this something is, it is necessary to make a fully human society.

Clearly this calls for an investigation of what is meant by the “feminine genius” and the nature of the unique contribution women are called to make in the process of becoming fully and authentically themselves. In fact, it must be admitted that there is significant work to be done in considering the nature of this “feminine genius” and how it might be better enlisted in creating conditions that “make life more human” for all. [The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. 38: AAS 58 (1966)]