In the context of postwar Spain, when the Catholic Church functioned as the main ideological pillar legitimizing the Francoist dictatorship, working class women were socialized into a religiosity rooted in fear and in the image of a punitive God. This largely ritualistic model reinforced the idea that the social order was not only natural but divinely sanctioned, requiring unquestioned adherence. Women were instructed in obedience to both a vengeful deity and a dictator portrayed as the guarantor of stability allegedly disrupted during the Second Republic. From the late 1950s onward, Spain underwent sociocultural transformations that accompanied its economic restructuring. These shifts became visible in the aspirations of women who sought roles beyond those traditionally assigned to their mothers, confined to domestic labor in support of a male breadwinner. At the same time, sectors of the Spanish Church experienced internal reconfiguration: parts of the clergy distanced themselves from the regime, promoted a deeper faith, and articulated a conception of Jesus centered on love and critical of social discrimination. Although these developments predated the Second Vatican Council, they converged with and were reinforced by it. This paper analyzes how working‑class women involved in the JOC and HOAC transitioned from a fear‑based religiosity to a liberating framework that encouraged them to claim social recognition and equal pay. It also examines how participation in these Christian movements facilitated later engagement in neighborhood activism, feminist mobilization, and anti Francoist resistance.