Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves

America is flirting with the idea that being a Catholic female means saying "yes" to the faith as a private source of comfort, but saying "no" to living out its more countercultural moral and social teachings.

Catholic women are facing unprecedented questions about sex, money, marriage, work, children, and the Church itself-questions with innumerable personal and societal repercussions. Is it even possible that the teachings of a two-thousand-year-old religion are still relevant for today's toughest issues?

A quick tour of leading cultural indicators seems to say "no." But this is far from the whole story. Many women, courageously facing questions their mothers and grandmothers would never have encountered, are finding intellectually and spiritually satisfying answers within the framework of their Catholic faith.

Nine such Catholic women - varying widely in age, occupation, and experience - share personal stories of how they struggled toward the realization that the demands of their faith actually set them free. Their stories - full of honesty, but ultimately hope - shed new light and new clarity on women's continued attraction to the Catholic faith.

Navigating dating and sexpectations

Feminism, freedom, and contraception

Children versus a "better me"

Being Catholic in light of the sexual abuse scandal

Faith, psychology, and same-sex attraction