A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the Lives of Catholic Women
"Good or bad, I'm a Catholic and I'll never be anything else." - Betty Smith, a Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Lately, I’ve reflected a great deal on Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I consider great literature in the spirit of this newsletter.
Like The Brothers Karamazov, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a sprawling exploration of faith, but it is told through the eyes of women - the young protagonist, Francie, and also her mother, aunts, and grandmother.
Women and men tend to differ in their feelings about religion. Women are more likely to attend religious services and believe in God1, including in more “conservative” denominations that reject modern secular feminism.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how an overly intellectual view of the world is not enough, at least not for me. Our world is not purely rational, so it is unwise to try to understand the world through reason alone. I think men are more likely to struggle with this concept, which may explain why women report greater religiosity.
The interplay between womanhood and Catholicism is especially interesting. The highest echelons of Catholic leadership are male, yet Catholics have a profound devotion to a woman, the Virgin Mary. Our female saints include philosopher-nuns, warriors, and medical doctors.2 The greatest theologians of the Church, formally designated as “Doctor[s] of the Church”, include four women.3 Via the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, Catholics regularly meditate on the life - and especially the suffering - of the Virgin Mary.4
One might say that the Church is deeply interested in women and how they suffer.
Betty Smith was a Catholic who understood how the Church views women. In Brooklyn, Francie observes that, “most women had the one thing in common: they had great pain when they gave birth to their children.”5 Similarly, Francie’s mother describes the pain of menstruation as a universal and natural female experience, thereby connecting the female experience to physical suffering.6
Smith also recognized how birth draws women into the mysteries of life and death. Francie’s grandmother observes that “[w]hen a woman gives birth…death holds her hand for a little while.”7
Women share a heritage of pain but also of life-giving mystery, one that men may appreciate but cannot experience. I think some would argue that this is a negative thing, and that women should not feel like pain, let alone biological motherhood, are their destinies. Years ago, I might have agreed.
Now, though, I consider women’s pain sacred. I have seen, as a mother, how (to quote another fantastic author) “a baptism of pain”8 accompanies birth, during which the girl dies and the mother is reborn. I now understand in a small and feeble way that - as Jesus showed us - great good can only come from great suffering.
I have often wondered if this is why Jesus did not choose female apostles, meaning there could never be female priests.9 A woman knew Jesus better than any other person. Perhaps that heritage is the greatest gift of all.
The Gender Gap in Religion Around the World, Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/03/22/women-more-likely-than-men-to-affiliate-with-a-religion/.
St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Edith Stein, St. Teresa of Avila; St. Joan of Arc; St. Gianna Molla
St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux. (https://www.churchpop.com/empowering-women-in-holiness-the-4-female-doctors-of-the-church/#:~:text=There%20are%20only%20four%20female,and%20Saint%20Hildegard%20of%20Bingen.&text=Many%20women%20throughout%20salvation%20history,love%2C%20and%20service%20to%20God._
https://rosarycenter.org/the-sorrowful-mysteries-without-distractions.
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Book Three, Chapter 40.
Id. at Chapter 30.
Id. at Chapter 38.
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams (“The Second Year”, Chapter 19).
“What the Early Church Believed - Apostolic Succession” (Catholic Answers) https://www.catholic.com/tract/apostolic-succession.
This is one of my favorite books; I've read it and re-read it so many times and could go on and on and ON about what it's meant to me in my life. But, suffice it to say, you've hit on a beautiful theme that runs through this book and expounded on it so well!
I was at a Bible study last week, and we were talking about Acts, when the apostles are flogged but rejoice that they have been found worthy to suffer for Christ. A friend said, "I think the closest thing we experience in our lives like this is when a woman gives birth. We [mothers] really don't shy away from the pain, because we know something so valuable is coming through it." That's been spinning in my head ever since. I think it's a beautiful concept. Thank you for sharing this!
I grew up reading and rereading this book. My 5th grade teacher recommended it to me and I think I read it every year up until I was 20 or so. I haven’t read it since becoming a mother and your wording here makes me think that it’s time to do so.