In 1968, I was twenty-four, a postgraduate, a university teacher, and an activist in the US New Left. My background was catholic and working class. I had entered the convent when I graduated from high school in 1962. The world as I saw it in my 1950s childhood was the best of all possible worlds. The United States was the greatest country in the history of the world. The Catholic Church was a bastion of the ultimate truths of the universe. I was a true believer. It was so strong, so stable, so sure of itself. Until it wasn’t.

In the 1960s, it all unraveled.

Vatican II was the beginning. What was absolute suddenly became relative. An atmosphere of fresh air and a process of questioning began and it took many beyond the bounds of anything even the most liberal elements in the church envisaged. It took me out of the church altogether. My crisis of faith shook me profoundly. My whole worldview collapsed. At first, I felt as if I had fallen into an abyss.