As an outgrowth of the Women Speak for Themselves project, my friend and colleague Helen Alvare edited Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves.  I contributed a chapter on the importance of moving beyond politics to culture, understood as shared habits and understandings and affections rooted in a particular place, giving a particular shape to family, friendship, and daily living.  As Catholics we know that a vibrant culture is reflected in an everyday life interwoven with something beyond the everyday, something holy, and it's vital that we work to build such a culture.

Helen, myself, and other contributors will be talking about Breaking Through, as well as women's views of the HHS mandate and religious liberty issues, at noon at the National Press Club; hope to see you there.

And before you go, check out Helen's piece in the Washington Examiner on limits to women's freedom in the health care law's abortion coverage mandate and preventive services mandate.