submit your work

  • The Better Part, an interdisciplinary journal of Catholic women’s thought, invites bold, original work for our inaugural issue: Uncharted: Origins, Disruptions, and Forging the Future.

    The unique aspects of the feminine nature and vocation, with their vast complexities, are largely underexplored–uncharted. Despite the ever-deepening philosophical, cultural, and technological inquiries into the human person, woman remains at the edge of mystery and overlooked in a culture that values transactional exchanges over relational depth. 

    In this issue, we ask: What does “woman” mean to a world that undermines her, misunderstands her, and has all but forgotten who she truly is? Does this forgetting distort our vision of true masculinity?  In what ways is “woman” still uncharted, and how do Catholic women participate in the unfolding of a more humane future?

    We invite Catholic women of all vocations and backgrounds to explore the theme of “Uncharted”across disciplines and experiences.  We especially welcome submissions that explore:

    • “Unmapped” terrain: forgotten histories, neglected ideas, overlooked contributions

    • The relationship between authentic femininity and masculinity: What is masculinity that is neither toxic nor feminized–and how might women uniquely recognize, respond to, and call it forth? 

    • Catholic women navigating disruption: How have they navigated political, social, or intellectual upheavals? By resisting, adapting, innovating, or reimagining?

    • Feminine Catholic voices in science, technology, and medicine: What do women bring to these frontiers of thought and discovery?

    • Creative nonfiction, poetry, or visual art that wrestle with the theme of discovery, boundary, or becoming

    Submissions may be academic or reflective, literary or visual, personal or analytical. All should be grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition and animated by the voices of women who sit, like Mary of Bethany, at the feet of Christ–bringing that gaze into the world.

    We invite you to help us build a journal–the first of its kind–that stands as a testimony: Catholic women do not merely occupy the margins of intellectual life, but press faithfully and imaginatively into its most daring and necessary questions. 

    At His feet…in her voice.
    *Full submission guidelines can be found at www.thebetterpartjournal.com.

  • The Better Part, the first interdisciplinary journal of Catholic women’s thought, invites submissions for its second issue: Work and Worth: Meaning Beyond the Metrics.

    The modern culture stands, once again, at a crossroads as it struggles to cope with the changes wrought by immediate gratification, immense production, and the accelerating speed of Artificial Intelligence. We are trained to count: steps, followers, words,  accolades, wages. Even our most intimate efforts—raising children, writing, praying, grieving, healing—are subtly shaped by these questions: How much? How fast? What did it yield?

    In this issue, we examine the relationship between the value of work, the measurement of worth, and the pressures unique to women in this restless age. We invite Catholic women of all vocations and backgrounds to explore the theme of “Work and Worth”across disciplines and experiences. 

    We especially welcome submissions that explore:

    • The dignity of discovery in scientific research, particularly when profit threatens to eclipse purpose (anonymity may be respected)

    • Engineering and technology oriented toward serving the human person rather than the marketplace

    • Artistic work that resists commodification or mass production

    • Reflections on lost skills, dying arts, and unquantifiable labor: What makes this work meaningful, and what is lost when it disappears?

    • Personal reflections on the invisible labor of women–and the urge to justify it.

    • Creative works (nonfiction, poetry, visual art) meditating on worth, effort, and struggle—or imagining a world beyond those tensions.

    Submissions may be academic or reflective, literary or visual, personal or analytical. All should be grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition and animated by the voices of women who sit, like Mary of Bethany, at the feet of Christ–bringing that gaze into the world.

    Let us reclaim the soul of work—not by stepping out of the world, but by entering it more deeply.
    Let us refuse to allow the algorithm to determine what matters.

    At His feet…in her voice.
    *Full submission guidelines can be found at www.thebetterpartjournal.com.

contribute to an issue

contribute to a column

  • Books we’ve marked; Music we return to.         

    PRINT    

    A quiet corner of The Better Part, where we share the books, melodies, and meditations that shape our days. From the well-worn classics of Catholic tradition to contemporary novels, from sacred choral works to vintage vinyl, The Reading Room gathers art that lingers.

    This is a space to pause–a space to abandon the noise and sit with what nourishes the interior life and stirs quiet thought. It is a space for resonance–for the eyes, the ears, and the mind.

  • Short pieces. Long echoes.

    A short-form, reflective space within The Better Part.
    A home for pieces too brief, too personal, or too unresolved for a full essay—but too meaningful to ignore.

    Share a sentence that changed you.
    A line from your journal.
    A question you’ve been carrying.
    Wisdom from your grandmother, a teacher, or a stranger.
    A quote marked in the margin.
    A single-word meditation.

    Because in life the margins matter.

  • For ideas that wander…

    The Labyrinth is a space for thought that meanders, turns, and hesitates–a space where resolutions unfold in time.

    It honors the journey, the spiritual search, the detour. It welcomes tension and gives uncertainty room to breathe. 

    Here, we examine what it means to walk the path well…even when we can’t see beyond the next bend. 

    We invite:

    • Essays that resist conclusions

    • Meditations that circle back

    • Reflections shaped by paradox

    • Symbolic or image-rich writing that gestures rather than declares

    Because the life of the intellectual Catholic woman is not linear–it is layered, recursive, and unexpected. Though the path may twist, walk it well.

  • Where clarity cuts.

    This is where Catholic thought doesn’t flinch.

    Where suffering isn’t softened.
    Where sin is rebranded.
    Where grace doesn’t arrive gently.

    Brutal Grace is for writing that judges clearly and loves anyway. Influenced by O’Connor’s grotesque and Aquinas’s logic, this column cuts through sentiment without losing mercy. We are not here to console. We are here to speak truth.

    What we seek:

    • Essays on the tragic, grotesque, or absurd

    • Reflections on suffering, discipline, judgment, justice

    • Cultural criticism that names distortion without apology

    • Thought-pieces that cut—first the writer, then the reader

    This isn’t cruelty.
    It’s contact.
    And contact with truth always hurts…before it heals.

  • Unfinished thoughts.
    Unfinished art.
    Unfinished plans.

    This is the space where the work isn’t complete—and that’s the point.

    Unfinished invites Catholic women to share what is in-process, imperfect, or abandoned.
    It’s for poems that stopped mid-line, canvases that were painted over, stories that were set aside.

    Because letting others see your process is an act of courage.
    And because sometimes, the unfinished is more alive than the finished.

  • Room to Speak is where Catholic women publish for the first time — and are heard.  This is a column for the unpublished: women whose voices have lived in journals, drafts, conversations, or quiet corners — until now.

    We believe every woman deserves room— space to ask, reflect, and say something true.

    If you've never published before, this room is for you.

    Pull up a chair. Put your thoughts on the page.
    There’s room for your voice here.

  • Where Catholicism collides with modernity…and truth prevails.

    This is the edge of the map—where Catholicism meets AI, gender theory, capitalism, politics, fiction, grief, ambition, and control.

    Here, modernity claims sovereignty, but truth does not concede.

    Truth does not bend to modernity. It exposes fractures—to judge, to redeem, and when necessary, to resist.

    The Borderlands is where we test that claim in real time.
    We publish writing that brings Catholic thought into direct contact with modern ideology—its assumptions, ideologies, technologies, and contradictions.

    We seek: 

    • Essays that hold the line where the world wants it blurred

    • Cultural criticism rooted in metaphysics

    • Reflections on modern life through the lens of Catholic intellectual tradition

    • Thought-pieces that challenge, not flatter, the spirit of the age

    Because modernity does not dictate reality. Truth does.

  • Things we shouldn’t say out loud.

    This is a minimalist column for what’s missing–the things Catholic women aren’t supposed to say. Not because they’re untrue; but because they are impolite, unpretty, and inconvenient.

    Negative Space is where the intellectual Catholic woman resides, the space where she unflinchingly challenges the status quo–cleanly, sharply, and without apology.

    What this is:

    • Minimalist

    • Controlled fire

    • Signed or unsigned

    • No self-explaining

    • Courage in a clean line

    Because the intellectual Catholic woman doesn’t fear the unpretty–she fears the cost of silence.

submit your work

Let people know what to reach out about and what to expect after contacting you. Don’t forget to choose a storage option for submissions

email@example.com
(555) 555-5555