the cloisters; many women were attracted the independence and intellectual life not available elsewhere.
Today, more than 200 Roman Catholic cloistered convents in the United States house 3,800 "contemplative" nuns. While their "active" sisters (some 120,000 strong) teach, heal, and do missionary work, says Lieblich, these secluded women seek solitude "to witness the primacy of prayer in the Church, to serve as a reminder of the contemplative di- mension in all lives, and...