Catholic Women's Search for More Inclusive Faith Traditions

Writer and professor Mary Jo Weaver teaches Religious and Women's Studies at Indiana University. Her new book is, "Springs of Water in a Dry Land." It's about the double bind that many Catholic women find themselves in, of either living within a institutionalized and oppressive church structure, or rejecting a church which is a source of spiritual enrichment. Weaver argues that it is possible for a woman to be a feminist and remain Catholic.

Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University Mary Jo Weaver. Her previous book is "Springs of Water in a Dry Land: Spiritual Survival for Catholic Women Today," (Beacon) about women who are Catholic and feminist. Her book, "New Catholic Women: A Contemporary Challenge to Traditional Religious Authority," (Indiana University Press) has a new 10th anniversary edition. Weaver's latest book (edited with R. Scott Appleby) "Being Right: Conservative Catholics in America" is a collection of essays (Indiana University Press).

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Hunters and Gatherers the new comic novel by Francine Prose, a story about a Manhattan community of New Age Goddess worshippers (Farrar, Straus and Giroux .August 1995)