Abigail Bartels reflects on her first experience speaking at an academic conference and what really matters in controversial discussions.

At the Conversations in Feminism, Law & Religion conference, men and women from around the country gathered at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, to discuss controversial questions and topics.  Among the many speakers were Sandra Laguerta, a 2013 Notre Dame graduate currently at First Things, and myself.

When the conference schedule came out, I was glad to see Sandra’s name.  Another Notre Dame connection had discovered and deemed valuable the topics that the conference would highlight.  As a political science major and a double minor in gender studies and theology, I am fascinated by topics such as women priests or Muslim divorce law, two topics of interest at the conference.

Other major themes included the ways in which various religions (Judaism, Buddhism and Islam, to name a few) specify roles for women or where those religions stand on so-called women’s issues.  Professors from law schools as far away as Israel and as close as the University of St. Thomas presented their research as 15-minute talks on panels focusing on a central issue.

During the session entitled, “Women in the Catholic Church: Emerging Issues,” Laguerta presented her paper, “Should We Have a Theology of Women at All?” In the paper, she argued that the “Church actually needed to return to a proper understanding of the role of the laity” before the Church can understand the role of women.

“I had some positive feedback, especially in regards to my emphasis of understanding the role of the laity within the Church, which seems to me [to] be more inclusive of the teaching of complementarity than if we simply sought a ‘theology of women,’” Laguerta reflected.

“I was very grateful to receive comments by Jewish women and to learn how their communities were seeking to understand similar issues.”

The universality of issues struck me as well.  The reason that I enjoy studying these topics is that I want to learn more about other viewpoints on the same issues.  To me, the goal is not to argue to others that I am right; it is to argue with myself whether I am right.

The paper that I presented focused on the history of the female vote swinging Democratic in presidential elections.  This topic fascinates me, and I had a huge adrenaline rush from speaking about it in front of so many people.  I had fun answering questions, and I even enjoyed the next day when a few people told me that I was wrong about anything or everything I wrote.  Of course, there is a chance that they are right.  However, now I understand more the reasons why I think they are wrong.

In my experience, questions revolving around feminism, law and religion can often be masked behind very emotional or propaganda-type statements with not much evidence or reasoning to back up these ideas on either side.  While I certainly saw some of that at this conference, I was able to move past that and find what I sought from this experience: the opportunity to engage in thought with people who think similarly to and oppositely from me.

That is what I brought to Notre Dame—a deep desire to learn about different viewpoints to make my own more solid and to make my understanding of others more complete and compassionate.  Notre Dame can provide a lot of opportunities for that type of outlet.  If you disagree, turn to any string of Observer viewpoint articles or ask 10 people on campus what they think about parietals.

Sometimes the best way to be intellectually stimulated is to go out into the “real world” and experience even more opinions.  That was one of the wonderful parts of this experience for me.  Speaking to a hall full of people was wonderful.  Talking about something that interests me so deeply was invigorating.  But listening to so many different speakers from different walks of life with different views … that was the best part of this conference.

Maybe Notre Dame needs more of that.  Maybe we need more people who are willing to listen kindly and compassionately to all sides of the story.  Maybe we need to step up our game by stepping away from the plate and letting someone else take a turn at bat.

Abigail Bartels is a sophomore in Badin Hall. If you have opinions on feminism, law or religion that you would like to share, please add to the marketplace of Abby’s ideas by emailing them to abartel2@nd.edu.