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Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

author and editor

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Behind the Walls: Life of Convent Girls

Behind the Walls: Life of Convent Girls
Edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard & Marily Y. Orosa
Anvil 2005, softcover, 222 pages, ISBN 9712714926

Avail­able from PALH

Fascinating Collection of Convent Girls’ Memories

“What a fas­ci­nat­ing col­lec­tion of cole­gialas’ mem­o­ries! It is inter­est­ing to note the nuances of lan­guage, the cul­tur­al forces, the forms of dis­ci­pline, the pas­sions and issues, that defined each gen­er­a­tion of cole­gialas — from Mila Enage of pre­war Holy Ghost Col­lege to Eunice Noelle Lucero of post-Peo­ple Pow­er St. Scholastica’s. So dif­fer­ent one from the oth­er, and yet, in essence, so unchang­ing from one gen­er­a­tion to the next. Whether or not we want to admit it, much of what we con­vent-school alum­nae have become can be cred­it­ed to — or blamed on — the Amer­i­can, Bel­gian, Ger­man, Dutch, and Fil­ipino reli­gious women who formed us. That is the hap­py — or bit­ter — truth.” (Lor­na Kalaw-Tirol, writer and 16 years a cole­giala)

“The sto­ries in this book will give read­ers an inkling of how and why the cole­giala women think, speak and act as they do. The nuns have def­i­nite­ly put their stamp on our psy­che — for good and for not so good. But most of all, they taught us how to live and how to over­come.” (Loi­da Nico­las, Chair and CEO, TLC Beat­rice Foods Philip­pines & Chi­na)

“The allure of exclu­sivism lives on in the desire to join and per­pet­u­ate the cole­giala net­work. Once the strict domain of a few upper-class ninas, the all-girls con­vent school has now found diverse mid­dle-class vari­ants with dif­fer­ing degrees of atten­tion to what dis­tin­guished it from coed­u­ca­tion­al pub­lic schools: eti­quette and ele­gance. Cer­tain­ly not bred to be street-wise, the cole­giala how­ev­er has made her mark as polit­i­cal activist, astute pub­lic ser­vant, char­i­ty leader, art patron, envi­ron­men­tal van­guard, and gen­der cru­sad­er despite the socialite stig­ma. Behind the Walls sneaks a peek at what makes the con­vent-school grad suc­ceed or flop in the real world after she dis­cov­ers that nuns do have locks beneath their veils and sins to con­fess despite devo­tion to a prayer­ful life.” (Felice Pru­dente Sta. Maria, Writer)

“This col­lec­tion of essays has long been over­due, and should fit very nice­ly into that spe­cial niche of Fil­ip­ini­ana that uncov­ers the mys­tique behind a Fil­ip­ina. What influ­ence and reach these ‘cole­gialas’ or ‘con­vent-bred’ ladies have had, and con­tin­ue to exer­cise, on the Philip­pine soci­etal land­scape! Our two lady pres­i­dents thus far have been prod­ucts of that spe­cial, priv­i­leged edu­ca­tion that took place “behind the walls.” And it is like­ly that the next will also come from an exclu­sive Catholic girls’ school. Beyond the elit­ist tra­di­tion of edu­ca­tion under for­eign nuns and their suc­ces­sors is that con­tin­u­um of poise and grace, good man­ners and right con­duct, knowl­edge and moral strength that has come to char­ac­ter­ize our women of sub­stance. May the tra­di­tion live on!” (Krip Yuson, Writer)

 


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Cecil­ia Brainard
c/o PALH
PO Box 5099
San­ta Mon­i­ca, CA 90409
USA

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