Carol Galligan’s new book takes on the Vatican

“Collision Course: The Vatican, the Nuns of America and the Meaning of Obedience,”  a new book by Shelter Island’s Carol Galligan, will be published this week.

The book tells the story of the Vatican’s two-year standoff with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a group that includes 80 percent of the nuns in America. The trouble began in 2012 after the Vatican admonished the nuns, saying that they had strayed from Catholic doctrine.

The decision was made to put the organization under the control of an archbishop whose permission was required for any action.

Many American Catholics were outraged at the Vatican’s decision.

“I wrote the book because I have a thing about bullies, and I think the Vatican is the biggest bully on the face of the planet,” Ms. Galligan said in an interview in March with the Reporter’s Charity Robey. “They have all the power. They answer to nobody.”

While writing the book, Ms. Galligan interviewed many of the nuns involved in the event.

She notes that,  in the end, the nuns were cleared and the Vatican backed down.

Ms. Galligan is the Reporter’s gardening columnist and in addition to being a book author and a journalist, she is also a psychologist and playwright.

“Collision Course: The Vatican, the Nuns of America and the Meaning of Obedience” is available at Amazon.com.