The personal narratives of nine 20th-century Catholic female authors --                  Monica Baldwin, Antonia White, Mary McCarthy, Mary Gordon, Mary Daly, Barbara                  Ferraro, Patricia Hussey, Karen Armstrong, and Patricia Hampl -- speak eloquently                  about the process of departure from the church and its institutions. This study                  explores each author's breaking of the taboo associated with women leaving their                  "proper place." It locates five themes at the heart of all of their                  narratives: reversal, boundary crossing, diaspora, renaming, and recycling. Debra                  Campbell grapples with the spirituality of departure depicted by all nine women, for                  whom the very process of leaving Catholic institutions is a Catholic enterprise.                  These narratives support the popular maxim that no one ever really leaves the                  church. In the final chapter, Campbell examines narratives of return, confirming the                  book's overarching theme that neither departure nor return is ever                  finished.

Graceful Exits: Catholic Women and the Art of Departure PDF

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