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Religion and social action is both empowering and limiting for women. This study shows the Guadalupanas´ awareness of themselves as agents for change and their difficulties in understanding and maintaining their limited gendered roles within church and community.

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Introduction: Las Guadalupanas of Kansas City: The Paradox of Latina Religious Leadership 1. The History of Las Guadalupanas and The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe 2. The Kansas City Westside: Home of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe 3. Las Guadalupanas Speak 4. Interpreting Las Guadalupanas´s Voices 5. Practicing Belief: The Activities and Rituals of Las Guadalupanas 6. The Border Crossing Virgin and Her Daughters: Transgressing New Territories

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"Torres, in the tradition of Gloria Anzaldúa, challenges women´s communities to break free from ´desconocimientos´ that limit their own agency. Accompanying the Guadalupanas of Kansas City, Torres provides a living and contemporary example of how a community of women navigate and gain consciousness about the structures that define, illuminate and restrict their identities. Once again the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe empowers marginalized communities to publicly proclaim their presence and the importance of their religio-cultural identity."

- Jeanette Rodriguez, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Seattle University, USA

´In this book, Chicana scholar Theresa Torres offers a lucid exploration of the role of the Guadalupanas in their neighborhood church in Kansas City; readers learn how the Guadalupanas´ role while empowering was also limiting and how complex these roles play out in a community. The Paradox of Latina Religious Leadership in the Catholic Church is a contribution to religious studies, women´s studies and fills a critical gap in the literature as there is little written about Mexican American women in the Midwest.´

- Norma Elia Cantú, Professor of Latina and Latino Studies, University of Missouri, Kansas City, USA

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Theresa L. Torres is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA.

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