The ‘Auxiliaires de l’Apostolat’ (1940-1977)

The “Auxiliaires de l’Apostolat”: A 20th-century Network of Belgian Catholic Lay Women and their Role in Societal and Ecclesiastical Change (1940-1977)

Team
Maite De Beukeleer (PhD candidate)
Dries Bosschaert (supervisor)
Kristien Suenens (co-supervisor)

Project duration
2022-2026

Funding body
FWO Junior Research Project

Research topics
Church history
Women’s history
Lay apostolate

Approaches:
Archival research
Oral history
Network analysis

Lay women of the Auxiliaries of the Apostolate (Auxilium) combined a Christian vocation with a professional life at all levels of society, from the presidency of the Christian Women Workers’ League (KAV) to local community work. Their vows to the bishop, however, required them to be discreet about belonging to this international community, an unrecognized network of likeminded women striving to transform both church and society according to Christian humanistic principles.

The proposed project will study this network in the transformative 1950s up to the 1970s by mapping the movement and its links to ecclesial and societal organizations, by rediscovering their voice and ideas as ‘travelling concepts’ between theological, gender and social frameworks, and by assessing through historical network research the effect of this movement on social, ecclesial and feminist organizations in a Belgian and international context. Given the confidential character of their vocation, it will be essential to augment social-conceptual history with historical network research and oral history so as to grasp the full impact of the Auxilium women on church and society.

As it is challenging to sketch a comprehensive image of the Auxiliaires de l’Apostolat based on textual and archival material alone, we highly value input, feedback and/or testimonies of current or former Auxiliaires or of others that can provide further insight. If so, please feel free to contact us by e-mail.