Journalist Lernoux, a respected writer on Latin American issues, undertook telling the story of the Catholic Maryknoll missionary community of sisters (founded in 1912) as a personal labor of love, completing five chapters before her death in 1989. National Catholic Reporter editor Jones completed the book with Orbis editor Ellsberg. Through quotes from letters, diaries, and personal interviews, a powerful narrative of faith and courage emerges, ranging from the first American Catholic women missionaries to go abroad to today's members. The sisters learned, loved, healed, taught but especially shared the lot, even to death, of those they served. From the carefully edited fragments of personal accounts of work in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the United States, there emerges a realistic picture of a community ceaselessly challenging itself, ever in transition, ever opting to help the poor. Recommended for collections in religion and social justice.-- Anna Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, N.Y.
