If you were one of the many progressive Catholics elated last year by seeing progressive nun/ lobbyist Simone Campbell hit the big time — interviewed on the Stephen Colbert show, then spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention — she’s moving deeper into celeb territory: Sister Simone is writing a memoir.
HarperOne – Harper’s faith imprint – announced Thursday that next April they’ll publish “A Nun on the Bus,” named after the widely watched national bus tour Campbell and other sisters launched last year to oppose Paul Ryan’s budget plan.
If you were one of the many conservative Catholics who hated seeing kudos lavished on a liberal nun who sided with President Obama against the Catholic bishops on health-care reform, you may want to skip this one.
All of Campbell’s proceeds will go to her left-leaning lobbying and advocacy shop, NETWORK, and other non-profits, HarperOne said. She’ll be writing with Catholic journalist David Gibson.
Much of Campbell’s bio is already known – she grew up in a not particularly religious home in California, then went on to become a nun and lawyer and founded a community law center for the poor. Then she came to Washington and is known around Capitol Hill for her advocacy on things like expanding health-care access and services for immigrants. She favors blazers, jangly earrings and spicy language. The book will apparently go into more detail about her life and the lives of people around the country she met on the bus tour.
It’s unclear if the book will focus much on the standoff underway between the Vatican and a major nun organization to which Campbell belongs, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The Vatican has called on several bishops to “reform” the group, which Vatican investigators said was airing “heretical” feminist ideas and anti-Catholic teachings on subjects such as female priests. Pope Francis recently affirmed that the probe will continue.
HarperOne in its publicity material seemed to be piggybacking on the huge popularity of Francis, who has focused in his few months as pope on spirituality and service rather than divisive doctrine.
The book “will offer readers a fresh vision for a new spirituality at the heart of today’s progressive Christian movements,” a news release said.
Will there be a bus tour?
