Behold the Women: A Tribute to Sisters and Nuns of the Catholic Church in the United States and Other Countries

"Behold The Women," by Daniel Thomas Paulos, is a lovely book, filled with nostalgic photographs of numerous orders of Catholic Nuns, from yesteryear. These beautifully displayed pictures are joined with, simple, moving, naratives, written by some well-known individuals,a nd others, who grew up in a gentler era, where nuns abounded in Catholic schools throughout the world! The point of this book was not to create a "scientific," approach, to remember the history of religious life, but to join these wonderful pictures, with equally simple, direct, and personal rememberances of the leadership these great women have provided us all for decades!

"BEHOLD THE WOMEN" Reviewed by Sister Mary Thomas Noble, O.P.Fling the pages wide open and let out the fresh air! Here is a new view of nuns to overturn the sterotypes we have been fed for too long. The nuns of the persecution complex, those of the psychological suffocation, the ones with a political agenda in the world of woman's rights and feminism - with these we are sated.In "BEHOLD THE WOMEN," Dan Paulos gives us not "nuns," but THE nun, that unique, irreplaceable woman that he, or you, or I, once knew, were touched by, and can never forget.It is a collection piece. The 217 photographs were selected from the more than 400 submitted; the written testimonies represent writers from a broad spectrum of life and levels of society. Through them all runs the feel of genuineness. These nuns are real people.Some of the photographs have the quality of portraits; others were probably snapped by a Brownie. Some of the tributes come from professional writers; others are are totally simple in style.For those who have been fortunate enough to know nuns "in the flesh," this book is an affirmation. In the face of the current discussion in the media about nuns and their relevance, in the face, even, of the self-questioning that nuns can sometimes be driven to by modern pressures, in the face of our own aching nostalgia for the values nuns stood for 'when we were very young,' the book is a message of life and hope for the future.It takes an artist to see things whole. He needs the eyes of a child because children see things in the round, and the eyes of an artist, because artists pursue the details of things relentlessly. In this fine book, Dan Paulos has achieved the perfect blend. He portrays nuns with the huge simplicity and the keen attention to detail that mark the true artist.In his own right, the compiler is well known for his silhouettes in black and white, having been introduced to the art of paper-cutting by the celebrated American silhouettist, the late Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, OP. It is tempting to see a connection between his mastery of the silhouette, with its delicate tracery and filigree finesse, and the effect he has succeeded in bringing off in this book."It is a simple book," he admits. "It is a reminder that 'once upon a time' there were silent women who were, in reality, heroines without even knowing it. It is to all of these unsung activists that we owe our eternal gratitude."It is indeed a simple book, with the all-inclusive simplcity of truth!

This book is enchanting, especially for those of us who were educated by nuns in the parochial school system. I found the order of nuns who taught me, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and those fond memories of the caring sisters quickly came to mind. But I also delighted in finding several photographs of the cloistered Discalced Carmelites of Port Tobacco, Md. This book is a delight. So heart-warming it brought happy tears to my eyes.

BEHOLD THE WOMEN is original and it is quite thrilling! I took it to recreation yesterday, and the photographs, some of them more like oil paintings, and oh so attractive, so spiritual yet so human, so wise with a glint of shrewd, mischief in the glance of the eye, simply enthralled a group of all ages sitting at the round table. Abraham Lincoln's tribute to the heroism of Catholic nuns during the Civil War makes one so proud! Parts of the book reduced me to tears!Some of the text is most professionally written such as Father Daniel Berrigan. The figures spring to life: the simplicity, directness, actuality of each entry appeals to me very much. It is, I think, an American virtue and an admirable one. I saw, of course, Dan's own dear Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, with her clever and so witty verse and her deeply spiritual insights. The book will fascinate and illumine us - and all who see it - for a long time to come!Reflections from a cloistered, European nun