In Our Own Words Religious Life in a Changing World

This book opens a window for anyone wanting to know more about the lives of those currently entering religious life.

In Our Own Words is brimming with tremendous insights about the future, ideas that are uncommonly expressed in many religious quarters. This book has opened my eyes to a world that I have recognized only in limited ways to date. In Our Own Words is exceptional and deserves close attention since these convincing and cogent voices are seldom heard in such an expansive narrative.

The great strength of the volume is the breadth of experiences that are recounted and the astuteness and critical reflections of the contributing authors. I would heartily commend this book to those interested in religious life in contemporary culture.

The essays reflect the authors' honest struggle to name their experiences as young sisters, highlighting the beautiful, challenging, and difficult aspects of religious life. Strong and courageous reflections are found throughout the book on what it means to be religious women in a changing world.

This book was born of an expressed need of newer religious for more contemporary work on religious life and the vows. It led them to ask the questions: `If not us, who? If not now, when?' The voices of its thirteen authors pulse with new energy that both inspires and challenges readers. In their sharing of personal stories and scholarly insights, they offer new interpretations to this constantly evolving lifeform in our Church and world today.

What has been timeless and essential to religious life, passed on for generations, finds both honor and new expression as these newer members of religious life articulate their experience. This is an important read for all who are interested in the evolution of religious life and its continuing vitality into the future.