The Prison Angel Mother Antonias Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail, Mary Jordan, Kevin Sullivan. (Hardcover 1594200564)

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The Prison Angel Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail
Author: Mary Jordan, Kevin Sullivan

The winners of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting tell the astonishing story of Mary Clarke. At the age of fifty, Clarke left her comfortable life in suburban Los Angeles to follow a spiritual calling to care for the prisoners in one of Mexico's most notorious jails. She actually moved into a cell to live among drug king pin... more »s and petty thieves. She has led many of them through profound spiritual transformations in which they turned away from their lives of crime, and has deeply touched the lives of all who have witnessed the depth of her compassion. Donning a nun's habit, she became Mother Antonia, renowned as "the prison angel," and has now organized a new community of sisters-the Servants of the Eleventh Hour -- widows and divorced women seeking new meaning in their lives. "We had never heard a story like hers," Jordan and Sullivan write, "a story of such powerful goodness."

Born in Beverly Hills, Clarke was raised around the glamour of Hollywood and looked like a star herself, a beautiful blonde reminiscent of Grace Kelly. The choreographer Busby Berkeley spotted her at a restaurant and offered her a job, but Mary's dream was to be a happy wife and mother. She raised seven children, but her two unfulfilling marriages ended in divorce. Then in the late 1960s, in midlife, she began devoting herself to charity work, realizing she had an extraordinary talent for drumming up donations for the sick and poor.

On one charity mission across the Mexican border to the drug-trafficking capitol of Tijuana, she visited La Mesa prison and experienced an intense feeling that she had found her true life's work. As she recalls, "I felt like I had come home." Receiving the blessings of the Catholic Church for her mission, on March 19, 1977, at the age of fifty, she moved into a cell in La Mesa, sleeping on a bunk with female prisoners above and below her. Nearly twenty-eight years later she is still living in that cell, and the remarkable power of her spiritual counseling to the prisoners has become legendary.

The story of both one woman's profound journey of discovery and growth and of the deep spiritual awakenings she has called forth in so many lost souls, The Prison Angel is an astonishing testament to the powers of personal transformation.

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting team, the extraordinary and inspiring story of Mother Antonia, the remarkable woman who at middle age found her life's calling by bringing the transformative power of her spiritual guidance to the most hardened criminals

ISBN-13: 9781594200564
ISBN-10: 1594200564
Publication Date: 5/5/2005
Pages: 256
Rating:

Currently 5/5 Stars.

5 stars, based on 5 ratings

Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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Ashley B. (txblessings) reviewed The Prison Angel : Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail on 10/18/2010

Helpful Score: 1

An amazing book that I was unable to put down. Would recommend to all!

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Connie A. (jazzysmom) - , reviewed The Prison Angel : Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail on 10/19/2010 + 907 more book reviews

This story just blew me away--after i finished i wanted to start all over and read it again. There is so much in her life that Mother Antonia has shared with others. More people than can ever be counted. Not just the ones she has come into contact with, but the ones that took her teachings with them to others and the ones who of course, have read this book. A person seeming just ordinary is never what they seem--this woman has proven this all on her terms, she has changed lives on this earth--how many of us can say this? One of the best reads i've ever had the pleasure of indulging in.

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Patricia C. reviewed The Prison Angel : Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail on 11/5/2009

A wonderful story of a life lived in service to others. Hope is kept alive in the souls of one like Mother Antonia.Her life's story cuts through the politics of social justice and gets to the heart of what one's response should be in the eyes of injustice---love, love deeply.

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