The Holy Habit: My Love Affair and Break-Up With the Convent

The unflinching and evocative true story of a 17-year-old girl's decision to marry Christ in a rebellion against her family, society, and everything she knows. It was New Orleans, 1948. While her friends were dating and going nuts for boys and parties, Renee-Therese made it her mission to get herself into the Benedictine convent come hell or high water. Longing for a world of acceptance, she willingly commits herself to a life of humiliation and servitude that nearly engulfs her in loneliness. Still a teenager with little life experience, she witnesses death, rebirth and love in ways she never could have imagined. Through her journey and sacrifice, she develops a deep and abiding confidence powerful enough to last a lifetime. The author summarizes her experience at the convent: "I entered into a period of healing and growing, suffering and power. Had I known what humiliation and pain I would have to endure, I might have turned back and run as far as I could from the convent life. As it turned out, the blessings and grace that came to me, often superbly hidden in turmoil, gave me a new life, one filled with a sense of self-worth far beyond that which I believe I would have achieved had I remained in the world outside the convent. At seventeen years old, I was given the greatest gift I could imagine." Follow Renee-Therese as she recounts the rituals, hard work, and sacrifice of convent life in the late 1940s. You will feel like you are really there with her, listening to the conversations between the sisters and postulants, and learning about women friendships in the convent. Most of all, this is a story about the author's relationship with herself, her destiny, and her faith. A rare glimpse into the love story of a young girl seeking the convent with determination and fervor, and her emotional and psychological journey of leaving the convent life for which she fought.