
Sister Donata (Mary Johnson) with Mother Teresa at her first profession of vows, in Rome, June 8, 1980
When Mary Johnson left Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity after 20 years of service, she had to learn to pump her own gasoline, to use a microwave and ATM, and to make her own decisions. For this self-described “naughty nun” to begin life again at the age of 39 was not a transgression, but an act of bravery.
With so many stories in the news about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the investigation of American nuns, and the Pope’s recent retirement, Johnson’s memoir, An Unquenchable Thirst, offers a rare and provocative glimpse inside an institution that typically remains hidden from public view. The political maneuvering and willingness to turn a blind eye to harmful, even criminal, behavior that Johnson describes should not come as a surprise, and yet it does.
If you’re a fan of the writers Karen Armstrong or Kathleen Norris, I highly recommend An Unquenchable Thirst. Johnson is compassionate in her criticism, but portrays a religious institution in the midst of an identity crisis. As Johnson shows us, even saints have their faults, and a rabid focus on suffering is not only demoralizing for those who serve the Church, but ultimately to the Catholic religion as a whole.

Writer Mary Johnson (Photo by Elliot Gould)

Mary Johnson (Sister Donata) and Mother Teresa

Mary Johnson and Rosie O’Donnell on The Rosie Show

The cover of Time magazine that changed the course of Mary Johnson’s life at the age of 17.
A few days before the Pope announced his retirement, I had a chance to visit Mary Johnson at her New Hampshire home. During our conversation, we discussed her spiritual crisis, her relationship with Mother Teresa, her romantic affairs with another Sister and a Catholic priest, some of the recent controversies surrounding the Catholic Church, and her work with A Room of Her Own Foundation.
Johnson’s journey from conflicted, guilt-ridden Sister Donata to Mary Johnson the writer and media commentator is both moving and unflinching. This wise nun discovers the hard way that doubts and personal demons are not the work of the devil, as the Church insists, but are instead the growing pains of transformation.
You can listen to my interview with Mary Johnson below (or if it is not appearing in your email, click here to listen on the Gwarlingo website). You can also download the interview if you prefer to listen on your i-Pod or smart phone. Stay tuned. In the coming weeks, I plan to offer the podcast through i-Tunes, which will make subscribing easy.
Learn More
Mary Johnson’s An Unquenchable Thirst is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook formats, as well as hardcover. You can read more about Mary Johnson or connect with her on Facebook or Twitter by visiting her website.
You can donate to A Room of Her Own Foundation or learn more about their grants, conferences, prizes, and programs here.
The music featured in this podcast is “Für Hildegard von Bingen” by Devendra Banhart. The song is from his new album Mala, which will be released by Nonesuch Records on March 12th. You can order the album here. You can preview two tracks from Mala below:
An Update on the Gwarlingo Membership Drive
Thanks to all of the readers who have contributed to the Gwarlingo Membership Drive. Instead of selling out to advertisers, I’m “selling out” to my readers instead! 100+ Gwarlingo readers have contributed so far and $10,500 of the $15,000 goal has been raised. If you haven’t donated yet, you can check out my video and all of the member rewards here on the Gwarlingo site.
Stay up on the latest poetry, books, and art news by having Gwarlingo delivered to your email inbox. It’s easy and free! You can also follow Gwarlingo on Twitter and Facebook.



























































































Thanks Michelle. You are always full of surprises. I love your approach of sharing those things which are most interesting to you. There’s such great variety in your posts and how you go about sharing them out. It always leaves me excited for what’s next. This podcast was so informative, interesting, and a great reminder that we’re all so multi-layered and dimensional. You produced this piece with a great balance of professionalism, honesty, freshness and care that made me feel as though I were sitting in the living room right along side of you.
Fascinating interview. I would really like to get her reaction to Christopher Hitchens’s take on Mother Teresa. Perhaps she discusses that in her book…
I think you were ‘marked’, right from the start -just as I was, at the age of 10.Schooled in a French order catholic boarding school for girls, I see myself in some of your writings, and indeed, feel some of your pain. Now at the end of my life,and looking back, it has been a long questionable journey, with no real resolution. I feel I was marked by the church and some of its followers and finally abandoned by others. Nothing has changed.The church is nothing but a boy’s playground,with its novitiates learning the art of wheeling and dealing.You are too young to remember the Marian Year ( 1950).Ironically, one of my abusers, on a train entering a tunnel,took the wrong door and got sucked into the tunnel and her body smacked against the wall.Nasty ending, but her religious companion, after spurning some advances made to her from the former, managed to carry on ‘her good work’. Is there no end to it?”Love’ in the church, no matter how it is sliced is simply
bait for some unwitting person and when ‘caught’ will carry on the
‘business’.
I’d just finished the book when I landed on this interview. I couldn’t put the book down. I’ve had a lifelong curiosity about convent life (though I’m not Catholic). This certainly gave me a close-up look. I don’t know how any woman can do it! Mary, I’m so glad you found the courage to leave and then the life you needed and deserved. Michelle–You asked just the right questions.