Mary Bergan Blanchard, Blanchard
Description
I am not a Roman Catholic. In fact, I knew very little about Catholicism and the realities of convent life until I began to read Mary Bergan Blanchard
...
's book. Suddenly I found myself immersed in a mindset and a lifestyle foreign to my experience, yet completely engrossing and fascinating. Ms. Blanchard brings to life not only her own childhood and young adulthood, but she succeeds in making sense of the reasons behind the seemingly incomprehensible choice to renounce the usual woman's life which was, especially in the nineteen forties, fifties and sixties, centered around husband, home and children. Euology makes the previously distant-seeming Sisters, swathed in their voluminous black and white, into real human beings. Their hopes, their dreams, their emotions are like everyone else's--only their focus is different. Eulogy makes clear that these are women who have made difficult choices and who struggle with those choices daily. The book is warm, poignant, funny, bitter-sweet and, if I may put it this way, down to earth. I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever wondered why women become nuns. It will surely also delight those who are, or have been, nuns, as well as anyone else who has any connection with the Roman Catholic Church, from lay members to clergy. And for those who don't fit any of these categories, Eulogy is also a just plain "good read". Mary Bergan Blanchard's wit and insight are sharp, but her deep love of God and those who serve Him is evident on every page. ( Amazon Customer)
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