When I was in grade 4 in Winnipeg in 1966, I went to a three room school in the basement of our modest church. The sisters who taught us (and who lived together in rooms above the church) were from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto. My teacher, Sister Barbara Mary, was a no nonsense, compassionate, and intelligent woman who, once I got over being scared of her, I became extremely attached to. So much so that 55 or so years later we are still friends. So I was very happy when, visiting her at the convent in Toronto, I discovered this book in their library.

“Wisdom“ is an oral history of the order, which came to Canada in 1851. Their early history of course occupies the first part of the book, but the bulk of it is short passages of a paragraph to a couple of pages long that are taken from interviews with the nuns. There is so much in it, and there are so many things that they have done, so much Variety in the work that they have tackled over the 150 years covered in the book.

I was slightly frustrated initially because I wanted more more more from a particular sister or on a particular topic, and some topics aren't touched on that I would like to know about, such as how their community has been affected by the shocking abuses revealed over the last few decades, and by the changes in their own community as a result of Vatican II, and so on. But the reality is that it would have been a much more enormous book if I had been the editor, with a different focus entirely, I suppose; I would love to read that other book, too. If only someone would come along and write it before that history is lost.

I think that the Editors did a great job deciding their focus, organising the topics that were covered, and choosing the quotes. I learned so much about the order and I am more than ever impressed with these women. Apart from Sister Cecelia (so she became after the Second Vatican Council reforms and the reclamation of her secular name), and of course Sister Rosemary, who I worked with in Haiti at a nutrition center, most of the sisters that I have gotten to know I've met while staying at the convent (for retired or not quite retired sisters) when visiting Sister Cecelia. She may have told me a little of the work that they did prior to moving there, but I knew them mostly through sharing meals and laughing and praying together, and just finding them to be on the whole the most fun group of people I have ever stayed with. Fun, but also thoughtful, intelligent, at ease in the world, and open minded. Now, I didn’t raise the issue of abortion, and I’m sure we wouldn’t have found a meeting of the minds there, but in so many more ways than I would have expected if I only knew the Catholic religious community through the media.

So, would I have liked more? Yes, but not because the book did not meet its aims. Only because one particular sister and her community mean a lot to me, and have had a huge and hugely positive impact on my life, even though I myself left the Catholic Church a long time ago. ( )