Seven centuries separate us from the time of Catherine of Siena, the first lay-woman to be named a Doctor of the Church. Yet the twenty-first and the fourteenth centuries have much in common: a church racked by divisions and scandals...a world torn by war and violence and ravaged by disease. But now, as then, God stands ready to raise up women courageous and compassionate enough to speak the truth. Catherine's authority, like that of faithful women in every age, was rooted in her vocation, her wisdom, and her deep compassion. In Speaking with Authority, a revised and expanded version of her Madeleva Lecture, theologian Mary Catherine Hilkert presents Catherine of Siena as a challenge and inspiration for today's women-and men-to take up the struggle to speak the truth of the gospel in the church and in the world. Book jacket.