Sister Helen Prejean, the activist against the death penalty, and Sister Wendy, the creative art commentator, are two nuns who have made a difference in the world with their ministries. In this fascinating memoir, Catherine Whitney visits Rosary Heights, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Dominic of the Holy Cross, to discover the secret of other religious women. Estranged from the Catholicism of her youth, she finds herself mysteriously taken back to Holy Angels, the convent school she attended in the 1960s.
Whitney wonders about the nuns who taught her: What would draw women to such a life of sacrifice? She examines the callings of these nuns and their influence upon her, especially Sister Elizabeth who eventually married a priest. When the author told another sister that she wanted to be a nun, she was told to wait a while in order to discern the depth of her calling.
Whitney is inspired by the dedication and the ardor of the nuns at Rosary Heights. Yet she also begins to see that her calling as a writer and mother is a noble thing. In fact, this book celebrates the fire and the variety of women's spirituality both within and outside the Catholic Church.