The author was "raised and educated with the traditions of the Catholic faith. But in later years, she became aware of and uncomfortable with the peripheral role of women in her church. In A Longing for Wisdom, Edmisten probes her conscience and questions two thousand years of Church tradition affecting women, Catholic women. In this collection of poetry, prose, memoir, and essays, Edmisten addresses a range of issues relating to women: the uniqueness of women's talents, burdens, and sorrows; the failure of the hierarchy of mainstream churches to recognize the contributions of women in the Church's history; the widely accepted relegation of women to peripheral rather than central roles within churches; the unexamined unease the hierarchy and some priests exhibit toward sexuality, their own and women's, contributing to injustice within the Church and society."--Dust jacket.