We Agreed to Be Different

During the sixties a wave of renewals surged through western civilisation, including the Catholic churches and convents. Almost everything changed in the life of religious: their work, their way of life, their appearance and their contacts with each other, and with others. Many left their congregation; others developed a new way of being religious within religious life. This book describes this process of change among the 'Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy', a congregation with several thousand members and establishments in more than ten countries, and spread over four continents. Based on archival research and many interviews, a diverse picture evolves: of joy because of new opportunities, of pain because of the loss of traditions, of uncertainty about the new direction, but above all of the struggle to remain united as a group, whilst the members are allowed to be diverse.