Church Life Today

Do you know how to talk about “gender” today? Does the Church? We might find ourselves caught up in language because we don’t know what to think about this stuff or how to think about it. What about feminism, women’s empowerment, or the question of identity? Pastoral responses, education, formation all seem to be hindered by our lack of competency and confidence. That’s why the work and witness of Abigail Favale is so important, so liberating in its own right. She’s written about her conversion to Catholicism in a new book, Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion. Her articles have been going viral online lately because she talks in substantive, clear, and compelling ways about sex, gender, contraception, feminism, abortion, and the importance of the body. She’s a scholar who communicates clearly and accessible, and what she’s communicating about is precisely what many of us feel incompetent or unconfident to talk about ourselves. She’s helping us, immensely. Dr. Favale is the director of the William P