Dimensions
129 x 198 x 16mm
This is the powerful story of one woman's struggle to keep her integrity in a Church still using techniques reminiscent of the Inquisition. Why did Lavinia Byrne join her community? Why did she stay so long? And why did she leave? The Catholic Church claims to be an institution in which people can find a home yet be free to journey. How did one such journey end so dramatically?
Baptised in the Birmingham Oratory by a follower of Cardinal Newman, Lavinia Byrne lived a devout and pious Catholic childhood. It brought her to the decision to join an order of nuns, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which she entered at the age of seventeen.
Over the next thirty years she flourished, excited by the discovery of theology as an academic discourse and aware of the ambivalent relationship of women to power, authority and the Church. Her gift for broadcasting and writing has made her a popular and much loved figure. But in January 2000 she left her order after five years of Vatican bullying and intimidation.
'The Journey Is My Home' takes a revealing look at post-Vatican II religious life but above all its is a fascinating account of a fearless spiritual journey.
