For many Catholic women experiencing infertility, the Church has not been a welcoming, listening place—and that’s something that needs to change. 

On this episode, associate editor Regina Munch speaks with Emma McDonald, a doctoral candidate at Boston College who has researched the issue extensively through a series of ethnographic interviews with Catholic women, doctors, and clinicians.

McDonald argues that synodal dialogue alone is inadequate for confronting the Church’s culture of silence around infertility. What’s needed is real structural reform based on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. 

For further reading:

• “Listening to the Laity,” Emma McDonald
• “Finding Our Way,” Ellen Koneck
• “Making Pregnancy Safer,” Jessica Keating Floyd