CALLED - The Making & Unmaking of a Nun

by Marge Rogers Barrett

Called: The Making & Unmaking of a Nun, a memoir by Margaret Rogers Barrett, tells of her lively and free-spirited youth as part of a large family in a small town on a prairie in Minnesota; of her calling by God; and of her new calling to marriage and life as both mother and teacher. Along the way, we meet her remarkable family, both reveling and suffering with her as she experiences sometimes joyful, sometimes difficult times. In the end, this is a story of resilience and spirited immersion in all that life has to offer.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir

324 pages, Paperback

Published May 6, 2016

About the author

Marge Rogers Barrett also publishes under Marge Barrett

Reviews

[Cindy B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir kept my attention from start to finish. Follow Marge’s story and faith journey as she grows from a mischievous, active and determined child in the confines of a small Minnesota prairie town thru a strict, cloistered convent life and ultimately to marriage, motherhood and life of service, social activism, and teaching. As we read, we meet members of her enthusiastic, hardworking, fun loving, and lively progressive family. Faith is their pillar, and family members show their strength, living and leading by their convictions through heartache and challenges. We see and feel the strength of her practical, resourceful Mom and the leadership of her loving and adventurous Dad who always believes in her. And we can appreciate the lifelong impact of her experience watching the outside activism of the 60’s and 70’s from within the walls of her convent as she simultaneously encounters personal obstacles and opportunities afforded by the 2nd Vatican council and subsequent upheaval within the Catholic Church. At each family visit, her father asks, “Are you sure you are happy?”. Her story and the environment in which she lived come alive with vivid details, concisely told. I highly recommend this entertaining and inspirational memoir.

[Cindy B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir kept my attention from start to finish. Follow Marge’s story and faith journey as she grows from a mischievous, active and determined child in the confines of a small Minnesota prairie town thru a strict, cloistered convent life and ultimately to marriage, motherhood and a life of service, social activism, and teaching.
As we read, we meet members of her enthusiastic, hardworking, fun loving, and lively progressive family. Faith is their pillar, and family members show their strength, living and leading by their convictions through heartache and challenges. We see and feel the strength of her practical, resourceful Mom and the leadership of her loving and adventurous Dad who always believes in her.
And we can appreciate the lifelong impact of her experience watching the outside activism of the 60’s and 70’s from within the walls of her convent as she simultaneously encounters personal obstacles and opportunities afforded by the 2nd Vatican council and subsequent upheaval within the Catholic Church. At each family visit, her father asks, “Are you sure you are happy?”.
Her story and the environment in which she lived come alive with vivid details, concisely told. I highly recommend this entertaining and inspirational memoir.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this a 4.5 if I could. I don’t read a lot of memoirs, but when a good acquaintance publishes one, you gotta read it! And this was really good. We were able to attend Marge's reading of the book, so it was fun to hear her voice as I read. Marge is actually a poet, and her poetry is in the book, but her story telling is superb. She made her friends and family members come alive – I really ended up caring what happened to everyone – and we’re talking it’s real life! She covers life in the small town (Marshall, MN) and the big small town (St. Paul) during the 50s and 60s very well. Quite the enjoyable read.

[Jenny Larsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book even though I agree will other reviews that remark on the disjointedness. The fact that it was a local author made all of the difference. Her stories would not otherwise have been so interesting.

[Kacie Karels · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a little over halfway through, and I honestly don't think I can finish this. I completely agree with the other people who have said this book is very disjointed. The stories in and of themselves are very charming little vignettes about growing up in a small Minnesota town. And, perhaps the charm is enhanced a little bit by the fact that I also grew up in a small Minnesota town on the edge of the prairie. The stories lack depth, however, and most of them have no real reason to be in this book. Very few of them are actually connected to anything else. They feel just sort of dropped in with very little attempt at analysis or introspection.
The best example of this is when the author mentions her mother's sexual assault as a child. There are a couple of paragraphs at most devoted to this information, with a halfhearted attempt at rationalizing her mother's repression of the incident. This is followed a little later by at least 3 pages about what her mother canned for the winter. Nothing is mentioned about the assault again (at least in the first half of the book). I understand that her mother didn't really want to talk about it or think about it, I really do. I'm left wondering why it was even added to the book. Her mother's character is fleshed out in much better ways by the other stories, so why was such a deeply personal and traumatizing incident included without her mother's permission, and then given so little attention? It really bothered me.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

We are called to many vocations. We are daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, grandmothers and friends. Margaret Mary Rogers can add Roman Catholic nun. The writing was disjointed. Since she was a teacher, I expected more.

[Candace Simar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an exceptional rendition about a woman's choices and why she made them. It is very well written.

[Aundria Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written account of an extraordinary life.

[Hope Barker]

Lots of interesting St. Paul references here.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulously written memoir, I loved every page. I'm a St. Paul girl, yes, we Twin Citians take sides even though this is just one big city. St. Paul is quirky and the streets wind and wander and the bluffs and the river follow. This author referred to Minneapolis as flat, which made me laugh out loud. Oh, I love Minneapolis too, but she's expensive and a bit full of herself.

My dad was raised in St. Paul, so it has my heart through his eyes and memories and our shared time there. I've lived and gone to school where Marge lived and went to school. I've sat where she's been, beside the Dewdrop; I've walked her neighborhood.

The College of St. Catherine (St. Kate's) was an interesting year for me, so seeing it through a sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet was fascinating. She really didn't fit in there either. I had transferred there to pursue a nursing degree that my liberal, coed college didn't offer. Attending with only women felt like taking two steps backward to me. Some feel an all female school provides a safe space to learn, voice opinions, etc. I felt it was ill preparation for the real world. Safe space was found, for me, in coed discussions and team work under the watchful eye of professors dedicated to my education. I was grateful to not only live off campus, but to only attend one year there.

All that said, that year taught me a lot about the good, bad, and awful of the Catholic Church. (And all religions.) I adored visiting elderly sisters. I loved the strong women I met. I admired the dedication to tradition. The guilt, blinders to the church's problems, and requirements of Catholicism astounded me. So much was overlooked, ignored, and swept under rugs, but at the same time such hearts of charity. Such strong, smart women. Such tradition and ritual and history. It's a jumble of contradictions.

I've always had trouble with hypocrisy and church as an institution. Church, to me is people doing God's work as taught by His son. So, a rich church gives me pause. I skewer my own Lutheran church with just as sharp a point. I have trouble relaxing into worship surrounded by people living lives where the cost of their clothes, cars, and homes would do the very work worship is reminding us to do. So, I don't attend. Not now, anyway. My ideal church would use the pews as beds at night, the floors would be worn from use. It would have a shelter, a kitchen, a clinic, a food pantry, mental health care, support groups...
And we'd all worship together while doing the work.


But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way, there is a way
...We are His hands, we are His feet
--Casting Crowns

While at St. Kate's a very good friend was the victim of one of the worst cases of anti-semitism that I've ever seen. Her dorm room covered in swastikas and trashed. She showed me her room and then she disappeared. I never saw her again and no one at the college would tell me what had happened. My requests for campus-wide discussions about religious tolerance went unheard. I was rendered speechless, but also powerless. She no longer existed according to the college. She was swept under a rug that bulged with similar situations. At the time, I worked with many Jewish people at a nursing home and was frequently at the Jewish Community Center nearby. These families sustained me during this very upsetting time in my life. My favorite patient, Morris, who also implored me to buy a good Buick, walked me through bearing this hurt. This was not quite the education I had signed up for, but it has lived every year with me.

The balance of being a Catholic and all the good of it tipped in favor of wanting none of it for this author. She took it all in, becoming a nun, and now, is a None. Born into this religion and then awakening, the author winds us through her life. I had some unanswered questions and there were some rather jarring transitions, but all in all, I loved this book.

I loved this quote from the book and I adore where the Catholic Church is heading. Pope Francis is leading us all into a better place. And the nuns are there.

"and thought our sisters had been true feminists long before their time. They had earned PhDs and worked before it was acceptable for women to hold jobs. Early CEOs, they had owned and administered hospitals, schools, and universities. Working with men, they had raised funds, asking for money from male business owners and philanthropists. Being nuns had allowed them to act in ways highly unusual for women of their times. Serving as alternative role models and inspiring examples of what women could be and do, we enthusiastically followed their leadership."

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent memoir told by a masterful storyteller. It wasn't fast-paced, but that made it all the more enjoyable for me. In the early chapters I looked forward, each time I picked up the book, to seeing what the Rogers children would be up to next. As they grew up I felt I was getting to know them. Marge's narrative style never felt inappropriate in any way. It never felt as if something was shared that might cause embarrassment or cross boundaries of privacy. It takes great skill to avoid the ever-tempting over-share while keeping the story moving and interesting. Thank you, Marge, for letting us be part of your personal and spiritual story. I am reminded of the words of the Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who) who said, "We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?" This is a good one.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed that this book didn't deal more with Barrett's spiritual life; for me the main draw was her spiritual calling to sisterhood and also her decision to leave it, both events that have the power to move souls. But you have to read 3/4 of the book before she enters the convent, and then her experiences there last only a few chapters.

I felt like this book had the fodder for a dozen memoirs. A memoir focused on her experiences with her younger sister's Down syndrome, a memoir about her brother's mental illness, a memoir about her religious calling, etc. I would have rather had more depth in any or all of these areas than a light treatment of all.

Many of the pieces were published originally as stand-alone essays, and they read stronger in that context, I think. Some places were truly moving, such as the discovery that her house was no longer there when she returned to her hometown. But my main takeaway was that I wanted more than was delivered.

[Dennie Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a read! So many stories, personalities, histories, emotions, transitions and all so heart filled. The panorama of Rogers’ life against the changing times of the fifties, sixties and on up to the present will surface memories for any reader. And if you spent any time at all in a small town in your youth, you will resonate with the places, experiences, and culture Rogers experienced in Marshall, MN.

Her distinct and varied portrayals of her family members across generations is a great and deep opportunity to remember the demands, and thrills, of those decades. You’ll feel that you knew them in all the scenes of their interactions which showed their distinct personalities bumping up against each other. What a rich growing up she had, but not without heartache! And the great personal tenderness she shows, whether arguing with a parent, caring for a sibling with a disability, or standing at her dad's deathbed - wondrous!

And of course Rogers’ life from youth, through dating, becoming a nun, later marrying and raising children offers a rich palette to draw from. Already an acclaimed poet, Rogers again proves her mettle in CALLED – The Making and Unmaking of a Nun.
What a read! So many stories, personalities, histories, emotions, transitions and all so heart filled. The panorama of Rogers’ life against the changing times of the fifties, sixties and on up to the present will surface memories for any reader. And if you spent any time at all in a small town in your youth, you will resonate with the places, experiences, and culture Rogers experienced in Marshall, MN.

Her distinct and varied portrayals of her family members across generations is a great and deep opportunity to remember the demands, and thrills, of those decades. You’ll feel that you knew them in all the scenes of their interactions which showed their distinct personalities bumping up against each other. What a rich growing up she had, but not without heartache! And the great personal tenderness she shows, whether arguing with a parent, caring for a sibling with a disability, or standing at her dad's deathbed - wondrous!

And of course Rogers’ life from youth, through dating, becoming a nun, later marrying and raising children offers a rich palette to draw from. Already an acclaimed poet, Rogers again proves her mettle in CALLED – The Making and Unmaking of a Nun.
What a read! So many stories, personalities, histories, emotions, transitions and all so heart filled. The panorama of Rogers’ life against the changing times of the fifties, sixties and on up to the present will surface memories for any reader. And if you spent any time at all in a small town in your youth, you will resonate with the places, experiences, and culture Rogers experienced in Marshall, MN.

Her distinct and varied portrayals of her family members across generations is a great and deep opportunity to remember the demands, and thrills, of those decades. You’ll feel that you knew them in all the scenes of their interactions which showed their distinct personalities bumping up against each other. What a rich growing up she had, but not without heartache! And the great personal tenderness she shows, whether arguing with a parent, caring for a sibling with a disability, or standing at her dad's deathbed - wondrous!

And of course Rogers’ life from youth, through dating, becoming a nun, later marrying and raising children offers a rich palette to draw from. Already an acclaimed poet, Rogers again proves her mettle in CALLED – The Making and Unmaking of a Nun.