What is the feminine genius? Why is it important for women to be active in their parishes? Dave and Mike with guest Lisa Cotter discuss the questions and much more on today’s show. Lisa also shares about her new book Reveal the Gift: Living the Feminine Genius.
Snippet from the Show
“The world doesn’t need what women have, it needs what women are.”
-St. Edith Stein
Shownotes
The Feminine Genius is a topic that Lisa has been talking about for years. She knew she may want to write about it but waited for God to tell her it was the right time. As a wife, mom, and graduate student, it was about a two year process to complete the book.
A big motivation for Lisa in writing this book was to give people a better understanding of what the feminine genius is. St. John Paul II talked about it extensively but he never gave a straightforward definition of it. This led to a lot of speculation and misunderstanding of it. Due to this, Lisa sees how desperately the world needs to understand what femininity is. She sums it up by saying, “Women see a person’s heart.” A woman is incredibly person-oriented. A woman has a great natural ability to see a person’s dignity before she sees their usefulness.
Lisa Cotter’s book Reveal the Gift: Living the Feminine Genius is currently available for pre-order.
Questions from the Episode
- Why is it important to have women active in parish ministry? (19:58)
- How can we help priests to listen more to women’s voices? (21:24)
- What do women need from their parishes right now? (28:16)
- How do we get people who we are discipling to also be evangelists? (33:17)
- Where are you seeing women’s ministry done well? (40:44)
- Who did you write Reveal the Gift for? Who should read this book? (45:14)
Resources
- Email us at eksb@ascensionpress.com
- Text “EKSB” to 33-777 to subscribe and be added to the Every Knee Shall Bow email list.
- Visit Dave’s website www.thecatholictruthaboutangelsanddemons.com and www.artofevangelization.com
- Visit Mike’s website at www.layevangelist.com
Meet Your Hosts

Michael “Gomer” Gormley
Michael has been leading evangelization and ministry efforts for the past ten years, both as a full-time parish staff member and as a speaker and consultant for parishes, dioceses, and Catholic campus ministries.
Mike is also the founder and creative director of LayEvangelist.com, and the producer and cohost of a Catholic young adult podcast Catching Foxes, which discusses the collision of Faith and Culture.
He is married to his college sweetheart, Shannon, and they have about 1,000 children and get about 3 hours of sleep a night, which is alright by him.

Dave VanVickle
Dave VanVickle fell in love with the Lord at the age of fourteen and has since dedicated his life to bringing others into a radical relationship with Christ.
He is a speaker and retreat leader who focuses on proclaiming the universal call to holiness, authentic Catholic spirituality, spiritual warfare and deliverance. Additionally, Dave has over ten years of experience assisting Priests with their ministries of exorcism and deliverance.
Dave resides in Pittsburgh with his wife Amber and their five children: Sam, Max, Judah, Josie and Louisa.
The Church changes slowly. Women are not only wives and mothers- so important – they have a lot to offer the Church.