Customer Reviews

The Calling: A Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Whitney's book is a real disappointment. Apart from factual errors about the history of the community she is writing about (who in the world edited this?), "The Calling" is less about "a year in the life of an order of nuns" than a self-absorbed, shallow "journey" toward....? Who knows? In any event, the account focuses more on the author than the sisters (not nuns)--most of whom are only superficially drawn, and many of whom get lost or forgotten in the course of the narrative. And the author's own "journey" is certainly not toward faith or anything deep but, it appears, toward some sort of ungrounded self-affirmation. As one who has spent a lot of time in convents and knows hundreds (thousands?) of sisters, this book leaves at best a limited, and at worst a misguidedly stereotyped, image of religious life in both the past and the present. If this is all you ever read about sisters, do not assume that you now "know" or "understand" anything--except, perhaps, about the author! Instead, read "Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan," "Poverty, Chastity, and Change," by Carole Garibaldi Rogers, "Cloister Walk," by Kathleen Norris, "Virgin Time," by Patricia Hampl, "Dead Man Walking," by Helen Prejean, or almost anything by Joan Chittister. For history, read Jo Ann McNamara's "Sisters in Arms." Do not waste your money on this one....

I was almost through the book when I realized the author really thought she was writing about calling (newfangled version of "vocation") in a general way. She or her editor just didn't get it done. Little cries about a "different" sort of book - just go where it leads you, etc., can't defend jumping around from anecdote to anecdote and then measuring EVERYTHING by herself and her shutdown life. All that glory and all she can do is go over and over how she was "rejected." I really enjoyed the stories of the nuns, though. Staying or leaving, they gave us glimpses of women of depth and wonder. I've never been a Roman Catholic but I'm a Christian. I'm glad I read this and in the words of people lots younger than old me, the author needs to "get a life."

If you are expecting to be drawn into the liturgical rhythm, discipline and complex beauty of religious life, this book will disappoint. It is not, as its subtitle implies, an ethographic description of life behind convent walls. It is, instead, a telling of the personal and spiritual journeys taken by a cross-section of women. Most of these women were at some point "Called" and spent at least part of their lives in the convent at Rosary Heights. But others, including the author, are more loosely connected to the religious life. The fascination of this book, and it is fascinating, lies in the diversity of the women themselves and in the author's ability to set their thoughts and actions firmly in the cultural milieu in which they take place.

The author presents each woman's story with great respect and affection, and as you read, you too will come to appreciate those who have heard and responded to "The Call." Many books of this genre leave us feeling that to succeed in the religious life one must be or become meek, subservient and narrow. They led us to believe that the convent is not a place for the stong, the independent and the courageous. This book provides a broader perspective. Perhaps many a true feminist finds her freedom and nutures her strength within the convent walls.

When Whitney went to the Pacific Northwest to interview the Dominican sisters who had shaped her childhood, she met far more than old teachers in a community that was struggling to find its place in the modern world. She confronted her own loss of faith and began a personal quest for spiritual identity. The Calling is a penetrating analysis of the Dominican sisters who had been a significant part of the author's life from grade school through high school. It's also a journey inward. All this said, The Calling is not a ponderous, self-absorbed examination of conscience. With honesty, humor, and an obvious affection for the nuns, the author opens the doors to a modern religious community, and lets us inside. Through the personalities she remembers, she moves from past to present with ease, and with a style that reads like chapters in a novel. It's a great experience.

I got this book because as a post-Vatican II Catholic, I wanted to know what type of life nuns had. I never went to Catholic school and my parish really never had any nuns present. To date, I still don't know! This title is very misleading. The author did not chronicle a year in the life; she took anecdotes from various nuns of their personal experience with their vocation. Also, one should be warned that the author is a lapsed Catholic with some bitter feelings toward the male hierarchy of the Catholic church that she has not resolved. Most of the anecdotes in this book are by women who left their orders because they were dissatisfied. Overall, the book was well-written and kept me very interested, but I believe the title is completely misleading and will cause more people to buy the book than normally would have, myself included.

I found this book to be extremely readable and engaging but also frustrating and not quite believable. I was unsure where journalism was in evidence or memoir or just poetic license. The structure of the book was also confusing with several narratives and seemingly important events abandoned and never resolved. In the end, I found the book disappointing and rather simplistic. The title itself was also misleading as I thought the book would be about an individual who spent a year living with a community of nuns. Instead this was a frustrating combination of fiction, memory and (doctored?) interviews.

Despite all that, I would have to admit: I'm glad I read the book. As a lapsed Catholic also searching for something greater than myself and our consumer culture, I identified with many of the author's feelings and was intrigued by the personal discussions of prayer, a calling and vocations, and the role of the church.

As a former Sister, I found the book to be very accurate and descriptive of the life I once knew, particularly as it relates to the 60's and 70's.

Catholics and non catholics alike will find the glimpses into the lives of Sisters de-mystifying.

Not for those with extensive indepth knowledge or religious life.

How any reviewer could possibly refer to this book as trash is beyond my comprehension. The negative reviews on Amazon show a jealousy or a sour grapes attitude. Perhaps they were written by women who were rejected by religious communities.

In the mid-1960s, I was a member of the order of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Catherine Whitney's book brought back many memories of that time. I appreciated the way she dealt with even the negative parts in a non-judgmental way. Her own journey, which she brought so movingly to life, reminds me of my own struggles for faith, and my desire, even when I had left the order, to do something important with my "calling." This book will remain in my heart and on my coffee table.

This book evoked a number of emotions as I read it. There were times I laughed aloud, remembering my own Catholic school days. Many times books of this type resort to veiled "nun bashing". We tend to focus on Sister Matilda, the drill sergeant, who rapped our knuckles with the ruler! Ms Whitney, however, portrays these Nuns as real, human women who are continually growing and rededicating themselves. Though their numbers are fewer at this time, they are reaching out to others in more diverse ways. Many of the women who left the Convent seem to still have a bond with the Nuns. This speaks well for Religious life! The author's own spiritual journey, woven throughout the story, was thought provoking and touching. I found her characters, as well as the message of the book ,very believable.

"The Calling" may get high marks in high places, but one who knows about the real life of nuns may, with me, feel outrage about it. The material seems to genuinely engage the writer and her collaborating editors. They know that so-called inside stories about nuns make hot copy . One does not get a sense of serious archival research into the history of nuns; rather one catches echoes of snippets from journalistic sources. Better read Kathleen Norris' "Dakota" or Patricia Hampl's "Virgin Time" for realism with depth into what occurs in monasteries and convents. Instead of the pages in this book on prison minstry, take a look at Helen Prejean's "Dead Man Walking" or even see the film. This is a poor book by "non-fiction" standards and merely exploits stories perpetuating images of nuns as romantic, immature, ignorant, and gullible. It is trash.