Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II

From Library Journal
McEnroy provides a fascinating account of the 23 women who officially observed Vatican II. To reconstruct the history of this aspect of the Council, she uses interviews with nine of the women and with persons who knew seven women who have since died, as well as with bishops, theologians, and reporters. She describes the women's reception and their important contributions and emphasizes the need for women to participate at all levels of the Roman Catholic Church. McEnroy concludes by describing the termination of her tenure as a professor of systematic theology because of her dissent from the papal decree forbidding the discussion of women's ordination. Her book recalls an almost forgotten event of great significance for historians, feminists, and church people. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, Va.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
McEnroy refers to this book as a detective project, noting that it started with "one name and a healthy dose of anger." The name was Mary Luke Tobin, who, at the time of the Second Vatican Council, was mother general of the Sisters of Loretto. McEnroy was studying at Marillac College in St. Louis at that time, boarding with the Sisters of Loretto; she shared their excitement when Tobin was invited to the council as an auditor. The anger was triggered by Alberic Stacpole's 1986 account of the council, which, following "official" histories, did not report the presence of women and did not include accounts by laity, though it purported to revisit Vatican II with "those who were there." McEnroy interviewed almost all of the 23 women invited to the council as auditors; those interviews, along with extensive archival research and interviews with other participants--official and unofficial--provide the basis for this important and accessible history. The autobiographical dimension--including the postscript, which describes McEnroy's dismissal from the faculty of St. Meinrad School of Theology for public dissent from church teaching on women's ordination--adds a great deal to the book. Steve Schroeder

Midwest Book Review
There were 23 women auditors at the Second Vatican Council. Guests In Their Own House: The Women Of Vatican II is their story. These women made significant contributions to the Council, but never got any credit. Guests In Their Own House remedies that grievous oversight.


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McEnroy provides a fascinating account of the 23 women who officially observed Vatican II. To reconstruct the history of this aspect of the Council, she uses interviews with nine of the women and with persons who knew seven women who have since died, as well as with bishops, theologians, and reporters. She describes the women's reception and their important contributions and emphasizes the need for women to participate at all levels of the Roman Catholic Church. McEnroy concludes by describing the termination of her tenure as a professor of systematic theology because of her dissent from the papal decree forbidding the discussion of women's ordination. Her book recalls an almost forgotten event of great significance for historians, feminists, and church people. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, Va.


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