"Beyond the Altar illustrates how women religious overcome sexist subjugation by sidestepping the patriarchal power of the Roman Catholic Church. This book counters the stereotypical image of Catholic nuns as being loyally compliant with their church by showing how a number of current and former women religious in Canada challenge their institutional religion's precepts and engage in transformative strategies to effect change both within and outside the Church. The sisters' testimonials reveal never-before-shared details about their painful experiences of male domination, their courageous efforts to move beyond sexist stifling, and the women-led and women-centred spiritual, governance, and activist practices they have engendered in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries." --Page [4] of cover.