Catherine Mowry Lacugna Award

The Catholic Theological Society of America grants the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award to new scholars for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition.
Award citation:
"Mother Language, Mother Church, Mother Earth" amplifies the voices of indigenous women to call for a complex notion of mothering that offers "insight into how the world can heal from a type of Christianity which has at its foundations patriarchalism, patronise, power-mongering, and a colonising-consumerist mentality". Drawing on infantile attachment theory, the easy begins with a trenchant critique of the idealised mother presented in church teaching--a projection of celibate men who see Mother Church always from the perspective of a child. The argument then turns to post-colonial discourses and the ecological wisdom of native peoples to reclaim the language of "mother" for an Earth in dire need of healing, reconciliation, and transformation.