Since the 1960s, religious adherence in Canada has declined with ‘no religion’ slowly taking its place. Although British Columbia has been less religious than the rest of Canada since its early settler days, the currents of postwar secularization can still be assessed. In this thesis, I look at secularization on a denominational, regional, and gender specific scale. Through the oral testimonies of eleven women who were raised Catholic in Victoria, and who left Catholicism in the ‘long sixties,’ I discuss the way the Catholic Sisters of St Ann modeled autonomy for these women in how they were educated within the Catholic church and I investigate how cultural and societal discourse regarding women’s liberation, autonomy and individualism impacted their departure. In leaving the Catholic church, these women joined the ranks of the rising ‘religious nones’ in this region, however their departure from organized religion did not always mean a rejection of belief in a higher power or spirituality, with the majority retaining some form of spirituality throughout their lives. Despite this, their departure from institutional religion and lack of religious socialization for their children influenced the subsequent irreligiosity of their children and grandchildren. I argue that these women engaged with the calls for women’s autonomy in the long sixties, and in their actions influenced intergenerational secularization. / Graduate / 2022-09-10
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/13406 |
| Date | 22 September 2021 |
| Creators | Greenup, Erica |
| Contributors | Marks, Lynne Sorrel |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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