In God's Womb: A Spiritual Memoir
An author and retreat leader, Gateley has led a fascinating life—an exceptional blend of contemplation and action that has taken her to places as divergent as the Sahara desert and the streets of Chicago, where she created a refuge for prostitutes. In this memoir, she recounts her journey in poetry and prose, beginning with a spiritual experience at age five, when she awoke in the night to see a beautiful shining woman she later concluded was the Virgin Mary. A devout Catholic child, Gateley decided as a teen to give her life to God. After teaching in Africa, she returned to her native England to found the Volunteer Missionary Movement, an organization of lay missionaries. By 1993, Gateley had become a popular speaker, but an incident in which she was photographed holding a chalice at an altar—which, she explains, she did by invitation and not as a priestly act—led to her being barred from some Catholic dioceses. Today, she writes, she increasingly faces exclusion from doing what she most feels called to do. Despite this, her writing is remarkably absent of bitterness, and she manages to end on a hopeful note.(Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.