Unveiled: the Hidden Lives of Nuns

[daugher-of-Mary]

TERRIBLE book. grrr. What upset me most was how they made the Martyrs and the Passionists sound ever so slightly "disturbed"...nothing blatent, but definitely suggestive.

[zunshynn]

[quote name='son_of_angels' date='Oct 10 2005, 04:03 PM']Thanks.  Seems to me the Vatican needs to do a serious review of women's religious, and do some excommunicating for the "wolves in sheeps' clothing."  Let the heterodox orders die, for "They will see the corpses of those who rebelled against me; for their worm will never die nor their fire be put out, and they will be held in horror by all humanity."
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Thankfully they are dying. But it's almost as if they don't realize it.

[sistersintigo]

Stating a fact here, not an opinion:
in the next four weeks, a new spruced-up edition of Cheryl Reed's book will come off the presses, go into the bookstores, and probably get a big PR campaign. The same book, however a new cover with a new and different photo. The new edition has much to do with the fact that "Unveiled" has met with sustained interest in the ten-plus years since the author started the project to begin with. Now, if you wonder why the author (married, with children, and always affiliated with churches outside Catholicism, eg Protestant evangelicals) went after this topic to begin with:
Mrs. Reed posts her responses on the Internet. She has her own website and at least two simultaneous weblogs going. I don't put links here, if you want to go then you can do your own search the way I did.
It is very telling to find Mrs. Reed's remark on what she was doing just before she swerved onto the topic of religious life for women. Mrs. Reed's professional background is investigative journalism, including coverage of serial murders, prostitution, and some other categories of sensational crime. And before she went on the investigation which resulted in "Unveiled,".....wait for it.....she did research on priests who secretly had sexual relations with women, specially focused on priests who were secretly married. To which, I have to say, I am speechless.

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='04 October 2005 - 06:06 PM' timestamp='1128467193' post='746135']
Vision 2005 had this book, [i]Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns[/i] on their booklist. They said not to be turned off by the racy title... it was a loving and thorough look into the lives of nuns from a journalists perspective. But I got the book today, and just scanning through it, well... She's got interviews with Sr. Jeanine Grammick, she has a section on lesbian nuns, and nuns that would prefer to be priests. Has any one read it? Is it all bad? It seems Vision wouldn't be pushing a heterodox book...
[/quote]

It's been a long time since I consulted Vision for anything, but I remember when I was discerning religious life I stopped utilizing them because of some similar experiences... I just wish I could remember exactly what they were now.

[frugaldreams]

Yes, she is a clearly biased author. I visited with the Passionists in St. Louis and stayed with them for a week. They are truly wonderful nuns and wouldn't hesitate to recommend their community to others. They are very austere but so joyful. I got the book because I knew the community was featured and was very saddened by the way she described them. The facts were right for the most part, but the spirt was inaccurate and mean spirited.

[morostheos]

[quote name='ofpheritup' date='10 October 2005 - 06:02 PM' timestamp='1128981776' post='753279']
ME TOO. What about the one called "Stalking the Divine?"

Oh yeah....I almost forgot.
[/quote]

I read that book. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. It's written by a secular agnostic who finds herself spending a lot of time with a group of cloistered nuns. I read it a few years ago and there wasn't anything offensive in it, but didn't have a lot of spiritual content. The end point as I remember is that she likes going to Mass but doesn't want to become Catholic, and she's okay with spending lots of time with the nuns because they're nice people and she still is trying to understand the whole religion thing.

Ok....end of sidetrack!

[MissyP89]

Sounds like yet another one of my own failing to do their job--tell the truth in its ENTIRETY. Her investigation is journalistic, sure, but she should have known better. The majority of the book is only one side. If she was going to talk about liberal communities, she should have covered moderates and traditionals, actives and comtemplatives...

Bah humbug.

[tinytherese]

I couldn't even finish this horrible book. Unfortunately, I think my mom might have enjoyed some of it. She's a combonation of liberal and conservative in terms of the faith, but it's because she went through bad catechesis.