Chronic and recurring depression presents challenges to theologians working on the
doctrine of grace. First, its frequent misrepresentation inhibits accurate perceptions
of God’s loving presence in this context. Second, like all suffering, it threatens the
affirmation of divine benevolence upon which the doctrine is predicated. Third, the
moral complexities of depression obfuscate grace’s healing effects. To meet these
challenges and clarify the contextual work of grace, the author draws on depression
narratives to identify the effects of grace as gratuitous, elevating, and healing
expansions of possibility that many sufferers experience as depression persists.

In 1968, Mary Daly published The Church and the Second Sex, one of the first monographs in the field of Catholic feminist theology. On the fiftieth anniversary of its release, this article remembers the book not only as an important historical milestone in Catholic theology, but also as an early and still-resonant articulation of issues that have concerned US Catholic feminist theologians since. This return to 1968 also puts into focus how the field has moved beyond Daly’s original project, clarifying important characteristics of the current discourse and its trajectories.