Leaving God for God by Susan O'brien

Leaving God for God by Susan O'brien

Leaving God for God is a study of five generations of Catholic Sisters in Britain from 1847 to 2017. As members of the Company of Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, which traces its origins back to St Vincent de Paul and St Louise de Marillac in seventeenth-century France, they belong to the largest transnational institute in the Catholic Church.

Written with access to the Daughters' archives in London and Paris this history draws on a wide range of additional sources to place the Sisters in a social and ecclesial context. It assesses how far, at different periods between 1847 and 2017, the Sisters lived out their undertaking to serve the poorest and most marginalised in society. Their history and experience serve to illuminate Catholic voluntaryism in relation to the state and civil society but, going further, it enables exploration of the question about a distinctive practice of Catholic charity and charitable care. Other themes used to frame this history include transnationalism and cultural adaptation, lay and religious status, gender in the Church's mission at home and overseas, the interplay of national identities in Catholic Britain, the development of Marian devotional life and, above all, the historical practice of women's ministries in the Catholic Church.

The history of Catholicism in England and Scotland is seen in fresh perspective through the lens of this singular transnational community of women. Their history, it is argued, challenges both the mainstream narrative about the nature of philanthropy and charity in Britain and the Catholic narrative about Catholic sisters in the twentieth century.

'She who has the spirit of a true Daughter of Charity is ready to go any place, prepared to leave all to serve her neighbourIf we love Our Lord, He is to be found everywhere. And there, my dear Sisters, are the three marks of charity; to love God, to make no exception of persons and to be indifferent to all places.' -- Vincent de Paul, Conference to the Daughters, 24 February 1653
'A refreshing and illuminating take on the history of the Catholic sisters and one which will hopefully inspire similar studies and communities.' -- Oremus magazine
'Superb ... a riveting analysis of a spiritual phenomenon that is the Daughters of Charity.' -- Fr John Buckley, Indepdent Catholic News

is a Senior Member of St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, a former Principal of the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, and a former higher education advisor to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Over the past thirty years she has taught British and American history in several universities, and has published extensively on the history of Catholic Sisters in academic journals and essay collections.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780232532883
ISBN 10	0232532885
Title	Leaving God for God
Author	Susan O'brien
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd
Year published	2017-04-27
Number of pages	528
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.