Who We Are

In the fall of 2004, a group of undergraduate women at The University of Notre Dame gathered to beginning planning the first conference, which was held in 2006, entitled "The Edith Stein Project: Redefining Feminism". They felt strongly that this conversation needed to take place here at the University of Notre Dame, where modern culture and Catholicism intersect in a unique way.

In an apostolic letter titled "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women", Pope John Paul II warns that "many women, especially as a result of social and cultural conditioning, do not become fully aware of their dignity." He also encourages all people to realize that "The personal resources of femininity are certainly no less than the resources of masculinity: they are merely different. Hence a woman, as well as a man, must understand her 'fulfillment' as a person, her dignity and vocation, on the basis of these resources, according to the richness of the femininity which she received on the day of creation." We hope that the Edith Stein Project will help move us towards a greater understanding of how the dignity and vocation of women can be fulfilled and lived out in our modern world.

Mission Statement

The Edith Stein Project is an annual conference offering an optimistic perspective on the future of feminism by emphasizing the dignity of human persons and the unique role of women in society. It began as a student-initiated forum for discussion about the dignity of women and the problems women face in our culture. Just as the women who organized the first conference, we feel strongly that conversations such as these need to take place at the University of Notre Dame, where modern culture and Catholicism intersect in a unique way. In this community that seeks to excel academically and to foster a life of faith, we believe that a conference is the best way to achieve the objectives of education and genuine dialogue concerning these issues.

As coordinators of the Edith Stein Project, we challenge each individual participating in the conference to take an honest look at our society and how it treats women. We feel it is important to examine the degrading attitudes towards women that are often taken for granted and to question their root causes. We understand that there are many economic, psychological, and social factors related to these problems; however, we offer that their common cause is a general misunderstanding of the true nature and dignity of the human person, particularly the female person. This misunderstanding has grave consequences for women, manifesting itself in different forms of violence: domestic violence, abortion, rape, and pornography. It even distorts women’s vision of their own feminine worth, leading them to do violence against themselves in the form of eating disorders, objectification and other problems.

Furthermore, we recognize that identifying these problems is not enough. We must do more than merely criticize these attitudes and practices. We must seek a deeper understanding of who woman is, from whence her dignity stems, and how we can better uphold and celebrate her unique nature, her inherent worth, and the distinct gifts that she has to offer society. We seek to invite speakers to the conference who will articulate the truth about women in order to begin building a coherent and consistent philosophical foundation for a “new feminism.” With a clear articulation of the truth about themselves, women can more confidently define and work towards helpful political and cultural goals; they may also discern authentic vocations which develop their feminine gifts rather than deny them.

Edith Stein, our patron saint, celebrated women’s unique gift to act as instruments of empathy in her writings and through her exemplary life. She was one of the first women admitted to university in Germany, and was a brilliant student of philosophy. As an advocate for women in the professional world, she herself worked as an educator, a nurse, and a philosopher. For a decade between the time that she converted to Catholicism and when she entered a Carmelite convent, she fought for upholding the truth about the dignity of women through her writings and frequent lectures. Her life in the solitude of the cloistered convent gave her the opportunity to live her teachings on empathy. She offered herself to God for her people who were suffering under Nazism, and then died at Auschwitz in 1942. We look to Edith Stein for inspiration as a model of turning one’s heart to God and as a woman who worked to live out her vocation through the genuine feminine spirit of self-gift.

The conference will seek to provide various perspectives on the holistic healing needed, drawing on the Catholic tradition which has always sought to minister to both the spiritual and physical needs of the world. We believe that this conference is a crucial step in forming the hearts and minds of young Catholic leaders who will promote the fundamental dignity of women and the roles they play in our world.