Aquinas for Beginners, Part I: A Tour of the Summa - ENDOW is dedicated to the promotion of a "new feminism" based on the teaching of Pope John Paul II. John Paul II drew much of his understanding of the human person from the work of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). As such, it is important for ENDOW to promote the study of these sources, in addition to the documents themselves, as a means to better understand John Paul II's teaching on the nature and dignity of women. This study guide is devoted to understanding many of the ideas about human beings and our relation to God that St. Thomas Aquinas explores in his most important work, Summa Theologica.

Author - Susan Selner-Wright, PhD.
Susan Selner-Wright has been teaching philosophy to college students and seminarians for 20 years and, since 2001, has taught at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado. Her speciality is St. Thomas Aquinas. As a wife and mother of both a typical child and a child with special needs, she has had many opportunities to reflect on the application of St. Thomas' profound wisdom on women's lives in and out of the home.

Discovering Your Dignity:  A Woman's Journey Through Life - In keeping with the mission of ENDOW, which is to educate on the nature and dignity of women,  it seems appropriate that we come to rest on this particular topic and ponder what the Church has to say about how God's workings manifest themselves throughout the course of a woman's life.   In a very real sense, our life on earth is a journey to heaven.  This study invites you to ponder that very thing.  

The authors are four Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, each with a different area of expertise.  Each chapter will discuss events and milestones in a woman's life from four different perspectives: the biological, psychological, philosophical and theological.   The stages mentioned are not ages exactly, though ages are included to better orient readers to an approximate chronological period.  It is understood that each woman is an individual and the details of her particular life are her own.  Still, there are many shared similarities and issues that surface at particular stages in life and it is those that will be examined.  It is hoped that as you read, you will find yourself on the pages and come away with a deeper understanding of your God-given dignity.   Discovering Your Dignity at Different Stages of Life reminds us that God has a design for a woman's development that includes her body, mind and spirit. 

Authors
Sister Prudence Allen, RSM, Ph.D. (Philosopher), Sister Marie Paul Lockerd, RSM, D.O. (Medical Doctor), Sister Moira Debono, RSM, S.T.D. (Theologian), and Sister Lydia Allen, RSM (Psychologist).

Redemptoris Mater -Mary, Mother of the Redeemer:  For many women in the world, Mary is a living person, close to everyday problems and sorrows.  She is a very important reality in their lives; they live with Mary day by day and look to her through the difficulties of life, expecting from her tenderness and protection.  For these women, Mary is not a problem but a presence, a sister, a companion, and above all, a mother who awakens hope and confidence in God's mercy and love.

Other women, however, living in the context of a highly modernized and secularized society, might find it more difficult to relate to Mary.  She contrasts with the type of woman that secular society wants to portray.  For them, Mary seems to be an anachronistic and archaic model of the non-emancipated, unproductive woman, and consequently, she seems to be impossible to imitate in today's secular feminist parameters. 

But Mary can surely be a model for today's woman.  When approaching her figure biblically, we discover her intimate relationship with woman herself.  Being a woman totally involved in God's plan places her before every woman facing her own destiny and vocation.  In this light, the importance and meaning of the 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater is displayed. 

Author - Father Jorge Rodriguez, S.T.D.
Father Jorge Rodriguez, S.T.D. is Vice-Rector of the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver.  Father Rodriguez has a Licentiate in Philosophy and Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.  He is a member of the ENDOW Board of Directors.