by Colleen Carroll Campbell
New York: Image Books, 2012
New York: Image Books, 2012
“Is this all there is?” Colleen Carroll Campbell found
herself asking that universal question midway through college. Every generation needs to discover the role of
faith in their lives and to seek answers to the hard questions such as the meaning
of life and the role of suffering. While human nature may remain fairly
consistent, new realities and cultural influences require new synthesis. With My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir,
Campbell looks to the wisdom of the saints to help light the way for young and
early-middle-aged women today.
Campbell, just shy of forty, has lived a life most of us can
only dream of. She worked as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, met
Pope Benedict XVI, is a successful columnist, television personality and book
writer, has traveled the world and married a doctor. Yet, she has also
experienced great pain as she struggled with being a woman in the modern-era.
Many of her difficulties are ones that most women can relate to, such as trying
to navigate college life, attempting to balance a personal and professional
life, and determining when to get married and have children. Her most painful
struggles are less common – facing her father’s twelve-year descent into
dementia and her own diagnosis of infertility with the accompanying challenge
of seeking treatment in keeping with Church teaching– but all can appreciate
her pain. While the details may change, every life has its share of sorrow.
Every person asks questions that lack easy answers.
Campbell shares fifteen years of her life with profound
honesty. She shares her faults and failings, joys and sorrows. She was blessed
with parents of great faith who proved to be a tremendous influence in her life.
Their example looms large in this book. They introduced her to many of the
saints who would become her companions on her spiritual journey and her quest
to follow God. At various times, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux,
St. Faustina, Blessed Mother Teresa, St. Edith Stein, and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, each speak most loudly to her. Campbell deftly weaves brief biographies
of each of these saints into her narrative while sharing what she found to be
their most important lessons in living.
My Sisters the Saints:
A Spiritual Memoir is for every Catholic woman who has ever struggled with
what it means to be a modern Catholic woman. Campbell is a fellow imperfect
woman doing her best to walk in God’s path. One cannot help but be touched by Campbell’s honesty
and the way God has worked in her life. The lessons that she learned from the
saints are lessons that each one of us can also learn from. Her beautiful story
has much to offer.
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