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An Atheist’s Come-to-Jesus Moment
Pat Santy was a NASA flight surgeon during the early years of the Space Shuttle Program. She is best known for her blog, Dr. Sanity, which ran from 2004 through 2012. For years she was an avowed atheist. “Prodigal Daughter: A Journey with Mary,” by Patricia A. Santy, MD, OP, recounts her return to the Catholic faith.
To outsiders, it seemed Santy had it all. She was a successful doctor, specializing in psychiatry. She became a flight surgeon at Johnson Space Center, on track to become an astronaut. She established a successful psychiatric practice. Later, she became a nationally-known blogger.
Her success seemed more remarkable due to an unpromising start. She was the child of divorce (when it was unusual, especially for Catholics). She financed her own way through college.
Yet, as Santy recounts, surface appearances were deceptive. She grew up in a dysfunctional family. A devout Catholic as a child, she abandoned her faith when her parents divorced, and became an atheist after her mother remarried to a man, who molested her.
She transferred her faith to worship of science and rationality. Mix in ’60s California’s “if it feels good, do it” culture and self-centered feminism. The results were predictable. She made herself the center of her universe; setting her own whims first.
Ending up pregnant, she had an abortion because the baby was inconvenient. She married a man she knew from high school, but never really committed to the marriage. Unconsciously mimicking her mother’s behavior, Santy abandoning him for a man she thought her soul mate. Only then did she discover that man, with whom she had a torrid online affair, had similar (and simultaneous) virtual affairs with many other women.
Despite her own verdict, she was not completely selfish. Unable to have children, she adopted one, committing herself to motherhood. As a flight surgeon on the Challenger flight, she put the needs of the astronauts’ families ahead of NASA’s desire for spin control, sacrificing her dream of becoming an astronaut.
Following divorce, she retreated to California, to put her life back together. There she reconnected with her childhood religion. She frequently criticized modern society’s malignant narcissism on her blog before she realized it dominated her own life.
“Prodigal Daughter” charts her recovery and redemption in a powerful and personal story, focused on her Catholicism. While occasionally painful reading, it is rewarding for any person of faith.
“Prodigal Daughter: A Journey with Mary,” by Patricia A. Santy, MD, OP, New Hope Publications, 2020, 165 pages, $17.95 (trade paperback)
This review was written by Mark Lardas who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
LOL, only if we have a conservative utopia. ;)
I am convinced that our souls are created before we enter the body, one of the reasons I hate abortions so much. There are other references where G0d tell women they are going to have a child. I just can’t remember then at the moment.
Me either! One time through is enough for me!
Me too. The soul is definitely in the fetus at conception for sure.
G-d told Abraham and Sarah they would have Isaac. I believe Samson was also promised to his mother. There are more–just too early to remember!
Pishposh! You’ve all been here several times already and will continue until you get it right.
(I will say, though, that if reincarnation should prove to be true, I am eternally grateful that I can’t remember any of my previous lives. And here’s hoping and praying that I’m getting it right enough this time that I won’t have to do another runthrough.)
I can’t remember any past lives of mine, but I remember @arahant‘s. His name was Beauregard every time. Every. Single. Time.
And You know this how? I think this is my first time around, because it sure has been a mess, most of which I didn’t bring on myself. Will not volunteer for a second time.
I’ve been praying that Hashem takes me sooner than later, but I’m still here. So must have more to do. Maybe it’s to nurture a mentally challenged young woman to change her life. She will be moving in with me on Friday. And I think I will give her most of my art supplies to encourage her to think for herself, and not listen to negative people.
Ah, but it’s not bad. Well, there was that time in Ireland, but mostly not bad.
Still is.
I remember.
Being in the murder house? Playing with a red ball?