Unruly Catholic Nuns: Sisters’ Stories

Nuns have always had a special place in the Catholic Church, especially in the days since Vatican II, when the church started to open up and people started to question things. This book collects the short recollections, poetry, memoir, etc. of nuns who questioned their relationship to God and the Church, especially in the 1960s. Some stayed, some joined different groups, and some left the Church all together and decided to continue their activism as lay leader. Each selection is by a Sister, or former Sister, and discusses how they struggled with the Church’s new ideas and how they came to reconcile with them and live their life. This is an enlightening look at a group of ladies who are often ignored because they work with the downtrodden, the poor, and the marginalized. Some of the times the stories are funny, and the poems are insightful. But in all of the stories you can see the conviction they had and the trouble that they caused for themselves, their family, and the Church. They were truly unruly, as they rocked the boat to not just blindly obey anymore.