2017 Symposium

March 30-31, 2017

A Feminine Lens on the Enduring Problem of Poverty

This two-day symposium of Catholic women scholars brought a feminine lens to the problem of poverty. Our work centered on the idea that economic policies alone, though important, offer an inadequate framework for addressing this issue. Our scholars considered the poverty of a lost cultural inheritance, wherein the allure of materialism and casual sexual norms replaced the personal, internal struggle for virtue, the traditional life script that offered the bonds of marriage and the gift of children, and solidarity with the poor in our own communities and beyond. This loss has taken a disproportionate toll upon women and their children, often leaving women and children bereft of paternal support and, in turn, fostering a troubling aimlessness among poor and working class men especially.

Meanwhile, as the mediating institutions between the individual and the state have weakened, the range of solutions has become narrow, with a dismaying focus on the government transfer of payments rather than solutions that encourage the development of the person and strengthen the family. Minority populations have been particularly hard hit by these changes—an important consideration for Catholics, as nearly half of Catholic children in the U.S. are Hispanic/Latino, and a significant percentage of them live in poverty. Women, particularly those motivated by faith, have always been at the forefront of cultural renewal, shaping hearts and minds in families and communities, and offering practical assistance to the poor and needy. Our scholars focused on the link between the Church’s preferential option for the poor and practical solutions that foster the development of virtue, responsibility, sexual integrity, and marriage as pathways out of poverty, particularly for women.

Please click the video links below for insight into the fruits this conference bore.