Leaving God for God: Daughters of Charity in Britain 1847-2017

Leaving God for God is a study of five generations of Catholic Sisters in Britain from 1847 to 2017 and of their wide-ranging ministries to people in poverty.

Written with full access to the Daughters of Charity’s archives in London and Paris, this study assesses how the Sisters lived out their undertaking to serve the most marginalised in society in the modern era, coming up to the present day. Themes explored in the book include: the nature of the Daughters’ community culture; the development of Marian devotional life in Britain; the influence of lay and religious status and gender on the Church’s mission at home and overseas; the Sisters’ engagement in civil society and with the State; their response to the Second Vatican Council; and the interplay of national identities in Catholic Britain.

The history of Catholicism in England and Scotland is seen in fresh perspective through the lens of this singular transnational community of women. Their history, it is argued, challenges both the mainstream narrative about the nature of philanthropy and charity in Britain and the Church’s narrative about Catholic Sisters in the twentieth century.

Published in hardback by Darton, Longman and Todd Leaving God for God (448pp) is fully referenced and indexed and includes 64 pages of full-colour visual essays and a Gazetteer providing details on every House opened and closed by the Sisters since 1847.

Susan O’Brien is currently a senior member of St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge and former Principal of the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge.

On sale from the Daughters of Charity in Britain through their website

http://www.daughtersofcharity.org.uk/LeavingGodforGod.aspx ; for £20 plus £3 packing and postage

or via Darton Longman and Todd and Amazon for £25 (UK)