BOOK REVIEW
“ And Then There Were Nun’ s” by Jane Christmas
This is a highly entertaining book which I bought in Whitby when I had gone over there for a day while on holiday in York last September.
The author is a Canadian aged about 50, twice divorced and the mother of adult children. She was having a long-distance relationship with a man in England. At the beginning of the book he had just proposed to her and had been accepted despite the fact that, at the time, she was wondering whether to become a nun.
You might think that having accepted a proposal of marriage thoughts of a convent would have been given up but no! Jane Christmas then spent a year visiting various monasteries, both Anglican( she is an Anglican) and Roman Catholic, first in Canada and then in England, while trying to decide what God wanted her to do. Her conversations with God are most interesting. During this time, she continued to keep in touch with her fiancé who must have been the most patient man in the world.
The book describes in detail the daily life of the nuns of the convents that Jane Christmas visited, and this does give you a real sense of what that life might be like. As well as saying what she thought of the nuns she also quite honestly indicates what some of them made of her. Most were sympathetic, if surprised at her background. One, in an abbey on the Isle of Wight( R. C.) was frankly incredulous and evidently thought she was insane, an attitude I sympathised with at times.
Three chapters of the book give details of her stay with the sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete, an Anglican order based in a house just outside Whitby. This was of particular interest to me as I had seen nuns from there often over the years when on holiday, first with my parents in the 1950’ s and‘ 60’ s and then with Robert and James in the‘ 80’ s and‘ 90’ s. As a child I was fascinated by the ladies in the black habits sometimes seen on the beach.
Nowadays they wear rather less elaborate grey habits and do not wear veils. There is a Glasgow connexion here too.
Some of you may know, or know of, Karen Brewin who was the deaconess at St Aidan’ s and who joined the Order of the Holy Paraclete some years ago. I had in fact met her quite by accident, the day before I bought the book, at a service in York Minster where she is currently based. I just wish that I had read the book before I met her so that I could have asked her whether she knew Jane Christmas. She would certainly have been a member of the Order at the time of her visit.
I won’ t tell you what Jane Christmas decided to do in the end. You will have to read the book! If you are interested I will be happy to lend it.
Paula R Fleetwood
10