Susan Mattern is a Southern California-based speaker and the author of Poverty, Chastity & Disobedience: My six years in a Catholic convent and Out of the Lion’s Den, her memoir about a mountain lion attack on her 5-year-old daughter, Laura Small, in an Orange County park in 1986.
POVERTY, CHASTITY & DISOBEDIENCE
My six years in a Catholic convent
Susan Mattern had no problem with most of the vows when she entered the convent. Poverty was easy. She didn’t have any possessions, joining the convent directly from high school. Chastity was no big deal since she hadn’t ever met a boy she liked. But obedience? That was a problem, especially when the rules made no sense. READ MORE >>
OUT OF THE LION’S DEN
A little girl’s mountain lion attack, a mother’s search for answers.
“Out of the Lion’s Den” is the true story of five-year-old Laura Small’s attack in an Orange County, California park.
But it’s not only the story of Laura’s long recovery from brain injuries.
Her parents soon realized that the attack wasn’t just the result of a lone mountain lion. Early morning anonymous phone calls, erasures on police reports, and a California moratorium on killing lions, led a persistent investigator and a brilliant lawyer all the way to a trial against Orange County for negligence. READ MORE >>
“Poverty, Chastity, and Disobedience by Sue Mattern is insightful, delightful and revelatory. Each chapter is a story of Mattern’s experiences in religious life in the late 1960’s, a time of incredible change in the Roman Catholic Church.”
“The depicted daily life of a religious postulant is sometimes shocking, and you find yourself rooting for the author and her partner-in-crime Pam to find a way to break out of their monotony and exert some individuality.”
SUSAN’S BLOG
My Silent Night Connection
Two hundred years ago, a parish priest in Germany struggled to write a musical accompaniment to a Christmas poem he had written. He had worked on it for a few years but wasn't satisfied with it. On the morning of December 24th, he asked the music director at his...
Great Expectations
I started a diet a few weeks ago. The doctor wanted my husband to lose a little weight because of his back problems, and I saw it as an opportunity to be altruistic and selfish all at the same time. I would help him out by going on the same diet (the altruistic part),...
If Jesus Were President
I know, I know, I'm an atheist, and I don't believe Jesus was the Son of God because I don't believe in a God. But having been a Catholic for 38 years, and a nun for 6 of them, I do know something about Jesus. Or at least the values that Jesus represents. Let's see,...
Happiness and Money
Twenty years ago, an elderly friend died and left us $5,000. It was a complete surprise –– he had never once mentioned it –– and the thing I regretted most was that I wasn't able to thank him for the gift. A few days after we received the check, I wondered how I could...
Life Is a Highway
I wrote a blog last week about the two things I wanted in a new car: cup holders and it had to be red! Well, we bought our new car. First of all, it wasn't a red Ferrari, which I'm very glad about. Their mileage is terrible, and the price tag is $242,000. Not to...
Am I Sexist? Yes!
My husband noticed a Ferrari in front of us the other day. It turned into the McDonald's drive-thru right in front of us. I laughed. "Fast food! Maybe that's how he was able to buy the Ferrari." It was actually my husband who noticed that the car going to...