
A Divine Calling
One Woman's Life-Long Battle for Equality in the Catholic Church
Soline Humbert(Author)
The Liffey Press
Published on 24. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
280 pages
978-1-0686645-6-4 (ISBN)
Description
As a student in Trinity College Dublin, Soline Humbert experienced a call to the priesthood in the Catholic Church, which she was unable to pursue because of the ban on women's ordination. She found herself on a collision course with a powerful church hierarchy intent on quashing any such vocation, and was even warned of excommunication if she persisted.
In this ground-breaking memoir, Soline candidly shares her struggles, her dark nights of the soul and her ecstasies, as well as her decades-long effort to bring about an end to women's exclusion from the priesthood. She is told again and again: 'The door to women's ordination was shut and would remain shut.' And that was that.
But as the Catholic Church continues its decline in weekly Mass attendance, its huge drop in male celibate priestly vocations and waning cultural significance, as it reels from decades of scandals due to child sexual abuse by clergy, it is becoming increasingly clear that the time for change is at hand.
A Divine Calling is an inspirational story of hope, determination, courage and one woman's passionate desire to make a difference.
In this ground-breaking memoir, Soline candidly shares her struggles, her dark nights of the soul and her ecstasies, as well as her decades-long effort to bring about an end to women's exclusion from the priesthood. She is told again and again: 'The door to women's ordination was shut and would remain shut.' And that was that.
But as the Catholic Church continues its decline in weekly Mass attendance, its huge drop in male celibate priestly vocations and waning cultural significance, as it reels from decades of scandals due to child sexual abuse by clergy, it is becoming increasingly clear that the time for change is at hand.
A Divine Calling is an inspirational story of hope, determination, courage and one woman's passionate desire to make a difference.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Dublin
Ireland
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
Illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
480 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0686645-6-4 (9781068664564)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
A graduate of Trinity College with Masters degrees in business and Ecumenical theology, Soline has appeared many times on radio and television, including on The Late Late Show and Upfront with Katie Hannon, was featured in New Yorker magazine and has written for The Irish Times and numerous other publications. She lives in Dublin.