Empowering the People of God by Bonner Jeremy;Denny Christopher D.;Connolly Mary Beth Fraser;

Author:Bonner, Jeremy;Denny, Christopher D.;Connolly, Mary Beth Fraser;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fordham University Press

Growing Up and Turning Outward

The National Council of Catholic Women was founded under the auspices of the U.S. bishops in 1920, its stated purpose being “to give Catholic women of the country a common voice and an instrument for united action.”4 At midcentury, NCCW functioned as an umbrella organization for thousands of parish-based women’s groups across the country. In 1960, affiliates numbered 13,000.5 Margaret Mealey (1912–2006) guided the organization through the transitional years at midcentury, serving as executive director of NCCW from 1949 to 1977. Due to her prominence in NCCW, Mealey was often asked to represent Catholic laywomen nationally and internationally. She served on Paul VI’s Pontifical Commission on the Council of the Laity and observed at Vatican II. She also served on John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and on the citizen advisory councils of three different presidents. Through Mealey’s influential voice, NCCW women staked a claim for themselves in the broader world.

Through biennial conferences and numerous publications, the national organization provided a forum for laywomen to organize, discuss their priorities, highlight their service to the Church on the local and national levels, and foster laywomen’s leadership. At midcentury, NCCW’s loyalty to the nation’s bishops and their policy positions was absolute, at least in its published and archived written materials. NCCW’s leadership usually spoke in reverent tones when referring to the Catholic hierarchy.

As the Second Vatican Council neared, the NCCW looked much as it had in the 1950s. Publications were largely geared toward the promotion of parish-centered events and fundraising, and the NCCW continued to pursue a socially conservative agenda. For example, a Family and Parent Education Committee panel at the 1960 conference described its purpose as affirming that the “home was a worthy career for women” and instilling “respect for large families.” The committee also set out “to fight the evils of artificial birth control, abortion, divorce and free love.” The same conference passed a resolution supporting modesty: “The dignity of the individual woman demands that the Catholic women exert their influence in the fashion world to overcome styles which offend modesty and jeopardize virtue.”6

The NCCW continued to view itself as an instrument of the nation’s bishops. The organization’s leadership spoke in very positive terms about the membership’s willingness to serve in the bishops’ larger program of Catholic Action. Bishops and clergymen were common keynote speakers at NCCW conferences and other programs, and they had an obvious relish for speaking to such dedicated Catholic laywomen, but their comments, meant no doubt to be supportive, could quickly veer into condescension. “My dear Catholic women,” the Very Reverend Alexander Sigur told attendees of the 1960 conference, “you are really fortunate to be invited by Almighty God to join Him through the Popes and the Bishops, in the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ on earth.… I really congratulate you.” Similarly, the Most Reverend John Spence gushed in 1964 that NCCW’s president, a Council visitor, had been given “a place of honor close to [the pope’s] throne.

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