Penny Lernoux facts for kids

Penny Lernoux (born January 6, 1940 – died October 9, 1989) was an American writer and journalist. She was known for her strong opinions about how the United States government and the Catholic Church's leader treated countries in Latin America. She often wrote about human rights and social justice.

A Journalist's Journey

Penny Lernoux grew up in a comfortable Catholic family in California. She was a very good student. She went to the University of Southern California in the late 1950s. After doing very well in her studies, she became a journalist. She worked for the United States Information Agency (USIA). This was a government group that shared information about U.S. policies overseas.

In 1961, Penny started working in Latin America. This was just before an important meeting called the Second Vatican Council for the Catholic Church. She worked in Rio de Janeiro and Bogotá for the USIA until 1964. Then, she moved to Caracas to write for Copley News Service.

Discovering Inequality

Over time, Penny saw a big difference in Latin America. Some people, like politicians and rich business owners, had a lot of money. But many other people were very poor. This made her think deeply about fairness.

She began to see Jesus Christ's teachings in a new way. She connected them to the struggles of people in Latin America. These people were fighting against unfair money systems and harsh military rulers. As a freelance writer, Penny became interested in new ways of practicing Catholicism in Latin America. This included "base communities" and "liberation theology." These ideas focused on helping the poor and fighting for justice.

Her first book, Cry of the People: The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America, came out in 1977. It shared what she had learned about Latin American history. It also showed the extreme unfairness in society. This book was very important and won an award.

Reporting on Global Issues

After her first book, Penny joined the National Catholic Reporter. She became their correspondent for Latin America. She also kept writing for other magazines, like The Nation. In the early 1980s, she started looking into corruption in international banking. She wrote articles about how money was being misused around the world.

Later in her life, Penny focused on how Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) handled disagreements within the Catholic Church. This was the main topic of her third book, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism. She spent years researching this book in Latin America and the United States.

Penny's book explained that these church leaders wanted to bring back an older, more strict way of running the church. She wrote about how the church removed scholars who questioned the Pope's decisions. She also looked at different groups within the church. These included Opus Dei, Communion and Liberation, the Knights of Malta, and Tradition, Family and Property. These groups all had different ideas about the future of the church.

Later Life and Passing

After her book People of God was published, Penny Lernoux left Bogotá. She started working on a fourth book. This book was about the Maryknoll Sisters, a group of Catholic nuns.

Sadly, later that year, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Penny Lernoux passed away on October 9, 1989, when she was 49 years old. She left behind her husband, Denis Nahum, and their daughter, Angela. Denis Nahum was from a British Jewish family in the United Kingdom. They got married in Miami, Florida. Denis later died in 1997 in a car accident in Bogotá, Colombia. Their daughter Angela was driving at the time.

Penny's last book was finished by Arthur Jones and Robert Ellsberg. It was published in 1993 as Hearts on Fire: The Story of the Maryknoll Sisters.

Legacy

Penny Lernoux's writings and papers are kept at the Marquette University Special Collections and University Archives. A library in Minneapolis was named the Penny Lernoux Memorial Library in her honor. It was open until 2007.

Selected Works

Books

• Cry of the People: United States Involvement in the Rise of Fascism, Torture, and Murder and the Persecution of the Catholic Church in Latin America. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press / Doubleday (1980). ISBN: 0385183291.
  • This book was republished in 1982 by Penguin Books. It had a new subtitle: The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America—The Catholic Church in Conflict with U.S. Policy.
• Hearts on Fire: The Story of the Maryknoll Sisters (1993). This book was finished by others after her death.

Articles

• "Illusions of Agrarian Reform." The Nation (October 15, 1973).
• "Nicaragua on the Brink." Inquiry (March 6, 1978).
• "Fascism in Brazil." Inquiry (November 27, 1978).
• "The Miami Connection." The Nation (February 18, 1984).
• "Vatican Silences Brazilian Bishop." National Catholic Reporter (September 30, 1988).
• "The Papal Spiderweb: Opus Dei & The 'Perfect Society.'" The Nation, vol. 248, no. 14 (April 10, 1989).