And then they were nuns

By Susan J. Leonardi

Subjects: Women, Communal living, Catholics, Female friendship, Fiction, Nuns

Description: "Beatrice has probably told you that when someone starts talking about staying, we usually send her home for a while, away from the seductions of these holy hills, so she can decide whether she really wants to plant herself in a nunnery. And to make sure she's not running away. As I was." Julian Pines Abbey. From 1965-2000, women come and stay or come and go, in a quiet experiment to remake religious and communal life. No tradition is safe from revision - not the tradition that says God is male, or that women can't be priests, or that nuns must be celibate.