Mary Ann Collins is known within Fundamentalist churches as a former Catholic nun who is an expert on Catholicism. She produces several self-published books and runs CatholicConcerns.com - an often-referenced website among those who seek to refute Catholicism as a false religion. Mary Ann Collins crafted a biography which can also be read on her website.
Mary Ann Collins' history is questioned by Protestants and Catholics alike, as she would be in a long line of Fake Nuns.
Mary Ann Collins considers herself a former nun although she never took her vows. On all her publications and websites, she lists herself as, "Mary Ann Collins: Former Catholic Nun". She admits she was expelled from the convent she attended but the religious order or convent she attended remains mysterious. She refuses to say where she attended and no one has admitted that Mary Ann Collins attended a convent even as a novice.
NUNS AND NOVICES
I was in religious life for a little over two years. I was a novice but I never made vows. A novice is someone who has entered a religious order and has been given a habit. He or she undergoes training and "religious formation" in preparation for taking vows. (There are novice monks as well as novice nuns.)
Some people have asked me why I call myself a former nun when I never made vows. According to "The Catholic Encyclopedia," if a monk or a nun has been accepted by a religious order (which I was) and has been given a religious habit (which I wore), then he or she is a monk or a nun in the broad sense of the term. Note 1 So I refer to myself as a former nun.
NOTE 1. "Novice" in the 1913 edition of "The Catholic Encyclopedia," Volume XI. This article is available on-line. The term "novice" refers to both monks and nuns who go through a period of training and preparation. In Section II, "Juridical Condition," the article states that a novice in a religious order is a "regular" in the widest sense of the word. (A "regular" is a technical term for a monk or a nun.)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11144a.htm
NOTE The article often speaks of "he" when modern usage would be to say "he or she". Section I, "Definition and Requirements,"specifically mentions nuns. And it gives instructions regarding married women who want to become nuns. So the article is about both novice monks and novice nuns.
Mary Ann Collins revised her biography on at least three occasions, one of which is not acknowledged on her website from 2001. See the changes - additionally, see the forum topic Is Mary Ann Collins real?
The following is a biography as listed on her book, "Freedom from Catholicism" on Amazon.com:
Mary Ann Collins is a former Catholic nun who spent many years in the Catholic Church, studying its teachings and traditions. After a period of seeing many distressing contradictions to Scripture, she eventually left the Catholic Church and joined her parents' church which was founded on solid, scripturally-based teaching. In so doing, she found the relationship with God that she had been hungering for all her life.
Many consider this to be misleading. Mary Ann Collins, though, admits she only spent two years as a novice and never grew up Catholic in her biography that she wrote on her website
Besides Mary Ann Collins' writings, there is no personal data about her. She has never given an interview, no one has admitted knowing her or seeing her or even having an e-mail dialogue with her. No one knows where she lives or what she does for a living. See the forum topic Is Mary Ann Collins real?
A plausible hypothesis is that Mary Ann Collins does not exist; that she's a fictional character to give credibility to her anti-Catholic writings.
All works are self-published by Mary Ann Collins (iUniverse.com) unless otherwise stated and may be read in entirety online.
Description by Mary Ann Collins
This is a longer book for serious students of Catholicism. It has 8 appendixes, including a Glossary. The appendixes give Internet addresses of hundreds of online articles and pictures. One appendix gives information about helpful websites.
Description by Mary Ann Collins
This book was written for Catholics. It is also appropriate for people who are participating in Catholic Bible studies, and for people who are thinking about converting to Catholicism.
Description by Mary Ann Collins
This book was written for Protestants. If you get this book, please give your pastor a copy of the first and last chapters.
Description by Mary Ann Collins
This book was written for people who used to be Catholics. Every chapter has a "Practical Application" section at the end of it. The book has appendixes with Internet addresses of articles about doctrine and Church history. It also gives information about helpful websites.
This book has valuable practical insights in addition to factual information. The information comes from extensive research, my personal experience as a Catholic, and my training in the convent. The insights were learned in the trenches. Leaving the Catholic Church was difficult for me, and I still had challenges many years after leaving it. My personal struggles taught me some things that have helped many other former Catholics, including men who are now Protestant pastors.
Mary Ann Collins' conclusion to her article states that "Catholicism encourages and even requires a level of “devotion” to Mary that really is a form of worship."
View all of Mary Ann Collins' articles on her website: CatholicConcerns.com
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