The Catholic Mystique: Fourteen Women Find Fulfillment in the Catholic Church

by Jennifer Ferrara, Patricia Sodano Ireland

Book by Ferrara, Jennifer, Ireland, Patricia Sodano

Genres: Catholic

297 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2004

Reviews

[Leila Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fine book as far as conversion stories go, but as it is called The Catholic Mystique, I thought it was going to be a dig at The Feminine Mystique, that awful book by Betty Friedan. I thought it was going to more directly address the issues in Friedan's book, and feminism overall. Since the subtitle is "14 women find fulfillment in the Catholic Church", I was expecting it to be about radical feminists changing their minds, but that was not the focus of the book. The book was more about their theological, biblical, and historical reasons for becoming Catholic. So if you are looking for a critique of Betty Friedan, you will not find it here!

[Sarah Rowland Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book so endearing and encouraging. So many parts of these conversion stories resonated with me. This book is well edited and each chapter is well written and clear. I also enjoyed the final biographical paragraphs and researching more about the authors, discovering more resources beyond this book. I would love to see a part 2 with a collection of essays from people born around the time these conversions take place and people experiencing conversion in the years since this was published, as the conversions in this book took place 30 years ago. However, the stories are timeless. I guess I just enjoyed them so much I want to read more.

[Lela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fast read for me. I enjoyed reading the conversion stories of 14 women, all of whom came from either Protestant or lapsed Catholic backgrounds. However, before I began this book, I expected that more of these stories would provide arguments about why the Catholic Church is a pro-woman institution.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ack, I'm taking this one back to the library after reading only halfway through. Many of the essays are poorly written and tedious, and there's an air of rigid, brittle defensiveness that I have found in all too many books from this publisher (Our Sunday Visitor). As someone who came to Catholicism via the ELCA, I was curious to read the stories of women who had been ELCA pastors and converted, but I found it less than inspirational, let's say. While I had some of the same concerns about the mainline Lutheran church (for instance, excessive permissiveness on issues of sexual morality) I couldn't really relate to these writers, either. I'll re-read Lewis and Chittister for inspiration instead.

[Carmen Garland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short stories about women converting to Catholicism. More insight into why I converted

[Rachael Belt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these stories and they were very inspirational but, a lot of them seemed very repetitive. It would have been nice if the authors took from a broader pool for their narratives.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a compilation of conversion stories. They've help deepen my faith. One in particular has impressed upon me the need to provide my children with a solid Catholic worldview.