The Practice of Perfection
by Mary Frances Coady
Regina: Coteau Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55050-400-2, 213 pp., $18.95 paper.

Mary Frances Coady, an instructor at Ryerson University in Toronto and author of several works, has chosen an unusual theme for her short-story collection, The Practice of Perfection. Her milieu is the cloistered world of the convent, her subjects, young women who are pursuing the call to religious order. In this place they are to detach themselves from the world they know and find their way to spiritual perfection.

Perfection, though, is more difficult than anticipated for the young women. Coady's story, "All that is in the World," introduces us to postulants, Melanie and Annette, friends from childhood who have decided to enter the convent life. Melanie plays the cello and brings it with her thinking it will help her in her praise to God. But Mother Alphonsine has other ideas. A piano or an organ is acceptable, but a cello; "I don't see that there will be time for practicing . . ." (16) It seems cruel to separate Melanie from an instrument that has the potential of creating beautiful music. But for Melanie to become an instrument of God she must make the sacrifice of relinquishing all that is worldly; she must learn to sever all ties with the world.

"Angels of their Own" brings several of the postulants clashing with the outside. Annette, when confronted by Mrs. Maloney, a visiting mother, whose daughter has died, reluctantly tries to comfort the woman, knowing she shouldn't, as postulants are not to have contact with those from the outside. Mother Alphonsine stops the succor by steering the mother away, realizing that Mrs. Maloney has wandered into a secluded area of the convent.

There is also a discouragement of the kind of individual friendship our world relishes. In a convent individual friendship can bring harm to the practice of perfection and Annette discovers this when Mother Alphonsine reminds her that "Friendship is a spiritual matter. . . . Our first friend is Our Lord, and then Our Lady and the saints." (136-137) The book implies that sacrifices, no matter how small or how demanding, lead to growth in spirituality.

The imagery in Coady's collection is vivid and mesmerizing. In one instance, Annette pretends to be a cello and hums a tune and soon has other postulants swaying along: "They moved and swayed in their white vests and grey petticoats, their towel-turbans loosening and falling down around them . . ." (20) The scene is a beautiful one yet it is ironic that such a picture is one not favourable to spirituality. In another story, Sister Lucy cuts too deeply of the angel food cake and "a bright balloon of blood rose from her thumb." (172) The blood falls on the pristine slice of cake that must then be relegated to the garbage bin. These images remind us what diligence the young women need in order to find perfection.

Coady's portrayal of the postulants' earnestness and struggle for spiritual fulfillment is written with great sensitivity, her rendition compelling. But I wanted to know more about Annette and Melanie, about Mother Alphonsine and Sisters Geraldine and Lucy. Perhaps next time Coady could embark on a novel?

Mary Barnes is a writer living in Wasaga Beach, Ontario.

Buy this book at McNally-Robinson Booksellers.


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