Reviewed by Richard Tutin
Religious communities are often the least understood part of the Christian faith. Usually found in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Churches these communities of women and men live and work together under a rule of life. Some are enclosed while others are regarded as active.
The Order of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters, who are the focus of this book, was, by comparison to other Roman Catholic communities in Australia such as the Sisters of Mercy, very small. They were also a late starter as the Australian house was founded in the 1950s. Sarah Gilbert brings together the personal accounts of six nuns and ex-nuns who were part of the community from the earliest days through to the present time. These accounts are told in each participant’s own words as Gilbert lets them tell their story and allows their insights, feelings and frustrations to be aired. To obtain these accounts Gilbert has worked her way through a lot of primary source material that includes both written and audio records found in the Order’s archives.
The six young women had many reasons for applying to join the Order. They were not escaping anything but were interested in furthering what they saw as their close relationship with God. They were not, though, prepared for the very strict and at times archaic rules and strictures of community life especially in an enclosed order that discouraged contact with the outside world.
They were also unaware of the great changes that were about to be unleashed on the Roman Catholic Church worldwide as the work of Vatican II took hold during the late 1960s. Like many in the church they were also unprepared for their long-term outcomes.
As well as the personal accounts of six women who offered themselves to the religious life Unconventional Women is an account if not a micro study as to how the changes of Vatican II affected community life and the personal lives of each member of the Order in Australia. Some embraced change while others did not. As well, some departed the religious life altogether and rejoined the outside world.
One of the major changes post Vatican II was the reduction in numbers of those who offered for the religious life. Being a small community, the Blessed Sacrament Sisters soon found their numbers so depleted that they needed to rethink the basis of their community life.
The willingness of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters to embrace change saw them leave the enclosed life behind to tackle different challenges such as grappling with the needs of Indigenous communities in Sydney and supporting other social justice issues.
In that regard they were, as Sarah Gilbert says, unconventional women. They were willing to push boundaries to the limit. This enabled them to reach many people and do things that would have been unthinkable when the six young nuns joined the community in the 1950’s.
For them life and faith were not static. While change did bring challenges it also brought great rewards as they and others like them explored what it meant to be a Christian in the modern age.
Sarah Gilbert began her career as a copy girl at News Ltd before moving to New York where she worked as a feature writer at the New York Post. She returned home to work as a reporter in current affairs television, but soon moved to Argentina where she wrote for Lonely Planet and Time Out. Sarah’s writing has been published in the Sydney Review of Books, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Wall Street Journal and Marie Claire. She works as a writer/producer across documentary film, television and podcasting with a particular focus on Australian history.
Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia
by Sarah Gilbert
(2024)
MUP
ISBN 978 052288 039 7
$39.99; 286pp