ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS<br > Creating this book has been a transcontinental quilting<br > party. More friends， relatives， and colleagues than we can<br > name helped with a scrap of fabric or a stitch in time. Thanks<br > first to Peg Cruikshank for proposing the book and intro-<br > ducing us to each other and to Barbara Grier for offering to<br > publish before we knew if there were any contributors.<br > Thanks to the hundreds of Lesbian former and present<br > nuns who called and wrote， told others about the project，<br > started local networks， opened hearts and homes to us，<br > and contributed the sacred hidden fragments of lives.<br > Friends and family critiqued and proofread the book<br > at Various stages， Nancy thanks Ruth Baetz， Ellen Brann~ck，<br > Carol Brockfield， Lauren Coodley， Peg Cruikshank， Robin<br > Ruth Linden， Susan Rothbaum， Karen Vertin， the Manahan<br > family， and especially partner Barbara Evans， whose editing<br > skills polished nearly every piece. Rosemary thanks her<br > convent particular friend J. A. for her silent presence and<br >