Sister Liguori: The Nun who Divided a Nation (by Jeff Kildea)

New published book by our parishoner: Jeff Kildea on the life of Sister Liguori. This true but amazing story of an Irish Catholic nun who in July 1920 fled her Wagga Wagga convent on a frosty winter’s night dressed only in her nightdress fearful she was about to be murdered by her mother superior. When she placed herself under the protection of the Orange lodge it sparked a sectarian war that played out in the press, the parliament, and at protest meetings across the country, dividing the Australian nation still recovering from the bitter debates over conscription and riven by the violent struggle for Irish independence. More than an episode in Australia’s political and religious history, it is also a very personal story of a young woman who, in attempting to leave a system she found oppressive, ended up in no-man’s land, caught between two powerful forces keen to use her plight to advance their ends.

Order through Connor Court Publishing: connorcourtpublishing.com.au. RRP $34.95.