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A fascinating read, this book lifts the veil of mystery surrounding women who forsake contact with the outside world to become brides of Christ. -- Booklist Here is holiness that does not lose sight of humanity - for how joyfully the Poor Clares can be seen in these moments. Abbie Reese's imagery shares the evocative light emblematic of Dutch master painters; she reveals a subject that is both richly spiritual as well as handsomely grounded in the most fascinating moments of secular time. --Anthony Bannon, Director, Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State, and emeritus director, George Eastman House As a photographer and storyteller, Abbie's work has the ability to peer into people's lives. She is not a voyeur, as is often the case with photographers desiring to be 'in vogue', but one who cares about people and desires to bring others to a broader understanding of the human condition. The model of searching for truth that the nuns present, while not something everyone would want to follow, can serve as a model for anyone interested in contributing to the world in their own way. The nuns' stories should be of interest to anyone sincerely seeking to understand the human condition. We have a wonderful, awesome, and very troubled world. It is filled with miracles and horrors - and we need talented, dedicated people with heart, vision, and determination to tell its stories. Abbie is one of these people, and the world is better for that. --Steve Rowland, two-time Peabody winning documentary producer Reese's narrative, based on six years of meticulous interviews, allows us to hear cloistered nuns' own voices and see their (interior and exterior) lives in all of their complexity. Reese explores the Poor Clare Colettines' resolve not to be 'erased from the landscape' but instead to serve as the 'agents of change' that they are. This is a new and fresh view of the cloistered life, a welcome contribution to the growing body of

That is another one of monasticism's surprises: where the world expects sorrow, the cloistered feel joy. Reese's attentiveness and patience allows that joy to reveal itself. --The New Yorker A fascinating read, this book lifts the veil of mystery surrounding women who forsake contact with the outside world to become brides of Christ. --Booklist [A] fascinating peek into a life that is often misunderstood and rarely subject to this type of scrutiny --Library Journal Through Reese's narrative and photographs, and the nuns' oral histories, we are allowed a rare opportunity to encounter the members of this enclosed order of contemplative nuns, glimpsing their individual pasts and observing their collective and individual present...[T]his book tells important stories that explain experiences and lend meaning to the diversity of religious life. --Oral History Journal Reese does do an excellent job of presenting the nuns as individuals. They are not fetishized or turned into fringe caricatures with cliched beliefs. Even when she has a chance to poke a hole in their convictions with contradicting opinions held by fellow nuns, she does not dispel their faith. Instead she withholds judgment, allowing room for the flexibility of their personal beliefs. Each nun gets the chance to express herself as she continues to explore and understand herself in her journey inwards and towards God. --Bookslut Reese's narrative, based on six years of meticulous interviews, allows us to hear cloistered nuns' own voices and see their (interior and exterior) lives in all of their complexity. Reese explores the Poor Clare Colettines' resolve not to be 'erased from the landscape' but instead to serve as the 'agents of change' that they are. This is a new and fresh view of the cloistered life, a welcome contribution to the growing body of literature on the lives of women religious. --Debra Campbell, author of Graceful Exits: Catholic Women and the Art of Departure The interviews in this book are informative, revealing, and thought provoking...Those who are truly fascinated with American nuns...will find much to like about this book. --The Historian In the monastic world of secrecy, silence, and submission, the oral histories of the Poor Clare nuns in the cloistered contemplative order at the Corpus Christi Monastery offer us a look at a small group of women who embrace countercultural values at great personal cost for the benefit of others. In so doing, they live day to day as brides of Christ, bringing before God, the needs of others in their own community and around the world. It is a sacrifice that few understand and even fewer appreciate...And Reese helps the reader to see clearly what that cost looks like and feels like from the perspective of the women themselves. --Oral History Forum d'histoire orale

So often, descriptions of cloistered religious life for women are written by the woefully uniformed - those smitten by the otherworldliness of the monastery. To correct these misperceptions, a methodology is needed to study enclosed religious life from the inside, while also respecting the canonical boundaries of the cloister. In Dedicated to God, Abbie Reese interviews nuns of the strict Colettine Poor Clare Monastery in Rockford, Illinois. What results is a poignant account of vocation stories, monastic challenges, and everyday living. For those wishing to understand the dynamics of a life lived totally for God, this book reveals the mystic journey as profoundly human, deeply simple, and ever rooted in the human/divine love of Jesus Christ. * Joan Mueller, author of A Companion to Clare of Assisi: Life, Writings, and Spirituality * Reese's narrative, based on six years of meticulous interviews, allows us to hear cloistered nuns' own voices and see their (interior and exterior) lives in all of their complexity. Reese explores the Poor Clare Colettines' resolve not to be 'erased from the landscape' but instead to serve as the 'agents of change' that they are. This is a new and fresh view of the cloistered life, a welcome contribution to the growing body of literature on the lives of women religious. * Debra Campbell, author of Graceful Exits: Catholic Women and the Art of Departure * As a photographer and storyteller, Abbie's work has the ability to peer into people's lives. She is not a voyeur, as is often the case with photographers desiring to be 'in vogue', but one who cares about people and desires to bring others to a broader understanding of the human condition. The model of searching for truth that the nuns present, while not something everyone would want to follow, can serve as a model for anyone interested in contributing to the world in their own way. The nuns' stories should be of interest to anyone sincerely seeking to understand the human condition. We have a wonderful, awesome, and very troubled world. It is filled with miracles and horrors - and we need talented, dedicated people with heart, vision, and determination to tell its stories. Abbie is one of these people, and the world is better for that. * Steve Rowland, two-time Peabody winning documentary producer * Here is holiness that does not lose sight of humanity - for how joyfully the Poor Clares can be seen in these moments. Abbie Reese's imagery shares the evocative light emblematic of Dutch master painters; she reveals a subject that is both richly spiritual as well as handsomely grounded in the most fascinating moments of secular time. * Anthony Bannon, Director, Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State, and emeritus director, George Eastman House * a fine example of this desire to reimagine the oral history book ... Reese's book combines various elements that make it more than the sum of its parts. The book's author carefully combines analytical text, individual narratives, and photos ... I particularly valued the ways that Reese sought to give back, or be of service, to her interview partners and the source community as a whole. I appreciated the author's reflexive style of writing and the balance she struck between her method and the stories of her interview partners. As an oral historian, I found that this book resonated with me a great deal. * Steven High, Oral History Review * Through Reese's narrative and photographs, and the nuns' oral histories, we are allowed a rare opportunity to encounter the members of this enclosed order of contemplative nuns, glimpsing their individual pasts and observing their collective and individual present ... this book tells important stories that explain experiences and lend meaning ... to the diversity of religious life. * Carmen M Mangion, Oral History *

Author Information

Abbie Reese is an independent scholar and interdisciplinary artist who utilizes oral history and ethnographic methodologies to explore individual and cultural identity. She received an MFA in visual arts from the University of Chicago and was a fellow at the Columbia University Oral History Research Office Summer Institute. Her multimedia exhibit, Erased from the Landscape: The Hidden Lives of Cloistered Nuns, has been shown in galleries and museums and she has presented her work at academic conferences internationally.

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