Graceful Exits: Catholic Women and the Art of Departure

The personal narratives of nine twentieth-century Catholic women writers -- Monica Baldwin, Mary Daly, Antonia White, Mary McCarthy, Mary Gordon, Barbara Ferraro, Patricia Hussey, Karen Armstrong, and Patricia Hampl -- speak eloquently about the process of departure from the church and its institutions (Catholic families, convents, or convent schools). Debra Campbell explores each author's breaking of the taboo associated with women leaving their "proper place." She locates five themes at the heart of all their narratives: reversals, boundary crossings, diaspora, renaming, and recycling. Campbell examines how each woman grapples with the spirituality of departure and shows that 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.