The Social Construction of a New Leadership Role: Catholic Women Pastors *

At the present time approximately two percent of Catholic parishes in the United States are headed by women, a relatively unknown but growing phenomenon. The chapter begins with a brief description of the facilitating factors for this new phenomenon: the impact of the Vatican Council, the revision of the Code of Canon Law, and external and internal demographic changes, in particular the growing shortage of priests. The major portion of the chapter utilizes key concepts of Berger and Luckmann’s social construction of reality theory in an analysis of the collaborative leadership style of women pastors in twenty priestless parishes scattered throughout the United States.