Download or read book Confessions of a Gay Priest written by Tom Rastrelli and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tom Rastrelli is a survivor of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse who then became a priest in the early days of the Catholic Church’s ongoing scandals. Confessions of a Gay Priest divulges the clandestine inner workings of the seminary, providing an intimate and unapologetic look into the psychosexual and spiritual dynamics of celibacy and lays bare the “formation” system that perpetuates the cycle of abuse and cover-up that continues today. Under the guidance of a charismatic college campus minister, Rastrelli sought to reconcile his homosexuality and childhood sexual abuse. When he felt called to the priesthood, Rastrelli began the process of “priestly discernment.” Priests welcomed him into a confusing clerical culture where public displays of piety, celibacy, and homophobia masked a closeted underworld in which elder priests preyed upon young recruits. From there he ventured deeper into the seminary system seeking healing, hoping to help others, and striving not to live a double life. Trained to treat sexuality like an addiction, he and his brother seminarians lived in a world of cliques, competition, self-loathing, alcohol, hidden crushes, and closeted sex. Ultimately, the “formation” intended to make Rastrelli a compliant priest helped to liberate him.
Download or read book Confessions of a Gay Married Priest written by Maurice Monette and published by . This book was released on 2013-01-23 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Roman Catholic priest struggles to remain committed to his vows, live authentically as a gay person and find intimacy. His social activism throws him into doubt about dogma and, after 30 years of church leadership, inspires a leap beyond the bounds of conventional religion and into the passionate embrace of a bigger God. This deeply personal story, perhaps a modern-day cross between The Prophet and The Thornbirds, invites readers - spiritual seekers as well as those alienated from religion - into a sacred space to explore their own journeys and make sense of the human longing to trust in something beyond the self.
Download or read book Confessions of a Gay Priest written by Tom Rastrelli and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tom Rastrelli is a survivor of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse who then became a priest in the early days of the Catholic Church’s ongoing scandals. Confessions of a Gay Priest divulges the clandestine inner workings of the seminary, providing an intimate and unapologetic look into the psychosexual and spiritual dynamics of celibacy and lays bare the “formation” system that perpetuates the cycle of abuse and cover-up that continues today. Under the guidance of a charismatic college campus minister, Rastrelli sought to reconcile his homosexuality and childhood sexual abuse. When he felt called to the priesthood, Rastrelli began the process of “priestly discernment.” Priests welcomed him into a confusing clerical culture where public displays of piety, celibacy, and homophobia masked a closeted underworld in which elder priests preyed upon young recruits. From there he ventured deeper into the seminary system seeking healing, hoping to help others, and striving not to live a double life. Trained to treat sexuality like an addiction, he and his brother seminarians lived in a world of cliques, competition, self-loathing, alcohol, hidden crushes, and closeted sex. Ultimately, the “formation” intended to make Rastrelli a compliant priest helped to liberate him.
Download or read book Confessions of a Fairy s Daughter written by Alison Wearing and published by Knopf Canada. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER (The Globe and Mail) A moving memoir about growing up with a gay father in the 1980s, and a tribute to the power of truth, humour, acceptance and familial love. A true "It GOT Better" story. Alison Wearing led a largely carefree childhood until she learned, at the age of 12, that her family was a little more complex than she had realized. Sure her father had always been unusual compared to the other dads in the neighbourhood: he loved to bake croissants, wear silk pyjamas around the house, and skip down the street singing songs from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. But when he came out of the closet in the 1970s, when homosexuality was still a cardinal taboo, it was a shock to everyone in the quiet community of Peterborough, Ontario—especially to his wife and three children. Alison’s father was a professor of political science and amateur choral conductor, her mother was an accomplished pianist and marathon runner, and together they had fed the family a steady diet of arts, adventures, mishaps, normal frustrations and inexhaustible laughter. Yet despite these agreeable circumstances, Joe’s internal life was haunted by conflicting desires. As he began to explore and understand the truth about himself, he became determined to find a way to live both as a gay man and also a devoted father, something almost unheard of at the time. Through extraordinary excerpts from his own letters and journals from the years of his coming out, we read of Joe’s private struggle to make sense and beauty of his life, to take inspiration from an evolving society and become part of the vanguard of the gay revolution in Canada. Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter is also the story of “coming out” as the daughter of a gay father. Already wrestling with an adolescent’s search for identity when her father came out of the closet, Alison promptly “went in,” concealing his sexual orientation from her friends and spinning extravagant stories about all of the “great straight things” they did together. Over time, Alison came to see that life with her father was surprisingly interesting and entertaining, even oddly inspiring, and in fact, there was nothing to hide. Balancing intimacy, history and downright hilarity, Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter is a captivating tale of family life: deliciously imperfect, riotously challenging, and full of life’s great lessons in love. Alison brings her story to life with a skillfully light touch in this warm, heartfelt and revelatory memoir.
Download or read book Hidden Voices written by Gary M. Meier and published by . This book was released on 2013-05-06 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is written to give voice to the thousands of voices in the Catholic Church that feel the way I do and to give hope, albeit just a little, to those who struggle with the Catholic Church's stance on homosexulity. What follows are some of my reflections on what it means to negotiate life as a gay priest in the Catholic Church, to struggle with self and hierarchy, and to move from silence and shame to hope and forgiveness.
Download or read book Confess written by Rob Halford and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legendary frontman of Judas Priest, one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time, celebrates five decades of heavy metal in this tell-all memoir. Most priests hear confessions. This one is making his. Rob Halford, front man of global iconic metal band Judas Priest, is a true "Metal God." Raised in Britain's hard-working, heavy industrial heartland, he and his music were forged in the Black Country. Confess, his full autobiography, is an unforgettable rock 'n' roll story-a journey from a Walsall council estate to musical fame via alcoholism, addiction, police cells, ill-fated sexual trysts, and bleak personal tragedy, through to rehab, coming out, redemption . . . and finding love. Now, he is telling his gospel truth. Told with Halford's trademark self-deprecating, deadpan Black Country humor, Confess is the story of an extraordinary five decades in the music industry. It is also the tale of unlikely encounters with everybody from Superman to Andy Warhol, Madonna, Jack Nicholson, and the Queen. More than anything else, it's a celebration of the fire and power of heavy metal. Rob Halford has decided to Confess. Because it's good for the soul. Named one of the Best Music Books of 2020 by Rolling Stone and Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book The Dark Box written by John Cornwell and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bestselling journalist exposes the connection between the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis and the practice of confession.
Download or read book In the Closet of the Vatican written by Frederic Martel and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times Bestseller - Revised and Expanded "[An] earth-shaking exposé of clerical corruption" - National Catholic Reporter The arrival of Frédéric Martel's In the Closet of the Vatican, published worldwide in eight languages, sent shockwaves through the religious and secular world. The book's revelations of clericalism, hypocrisy, cover-ups and widespread homosexuality in the highest echelons of the Vatican provoked questions that the most senior Vatican officials--and the Pope himself--were forced to act upon; it would go on to become a New York Times bestseller. Now, almost a year after the book's first publication, Frédéric Martel reflects in a new foreword on the effect the book has had and the events that have come to light since it was first released. In the Closet of the Vatican describes the double lives of priests--including the cardinals living with their young "assistants" in luxurious apartments whilst professing humility and chastity--the cover-up of numerous cases of sexual abuse; sinister scheming in the Vatican; political conspiracy overseas in Argentina and Chile, and the resignation of Benedict XVI. From his unique position as a respected journalist with uninhibited access to some of the Vatican's most influential people and private spaces, Martel presents a shattering account of a system rotten to its very core.
Download or read book Behind Sacred Walls written by Michael Roberts and published by Addicus Books. This book was released on 2021-11-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Roberts family's favorite priest started inviting himself to dine at their dinner table weekly, they were delighted to oblige. Then, when the priest started inviting their teenaged son, Michael, on day trips, they were even more pleased to see their son developing a close friendship with their beloved priest. What the family did not know was that the priest was grooming Robert for what would become years on ongoing sexual abuse. In Behind Sacred Walls, Michael describes how he fell under the control of the priest, who abused him verbally, emotionally, and sexually. It was, the priest told him, God's will that the teenager satisfy the priests human needs. Even though he was riddled with shame and guilt, Michael saw no way out of the continuing abuse. Most of all, he feared the pain it would cause his parents if they found out. In the end, Roberts tells how he was eventually able to extricate himself from the abusive relationship with the priest. He also relates the years of red tape he encountered with the Catholic Church while seeking justice.
Download or read book Pedophiles and Priests written by Philip Jenkins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001-08-30 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If we can believe the six o'clock news, there has been an epidemic of sexual abuse among the clergy, and especially among the Roman Catholic clergy. This study looks at the entire history of this mushrooming scandal, from the first rumblings to the explosion of headlines. -- Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Love What Matters written by LoveWhatMatters and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the bestselling tradition of The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Humans of New York comes a collection of authentic, emotional, and inspiring stories about life’s most important moments, as curated by the editors at Love What Matters. “90% of the reads bring me to tears. I just can't believe the love this world truly has when all we see is hate. This is so uplifting.” —Shelsea Where do you go when you want to feel inspired? When you want to forget about the divisiveness and the anger? For over five million people, that place is Love What Matters, a digital platform dedicated to finding and sharing the daily moments of kindness, compassion, and love that so often go overlooked. This curated collection of powerful stories features first person accounts and photographs that perfectly capture each moment: A husband learning he’s about to be a dad. A new mom embracing her body. A cashier inadvertently teaching a young girl a lesson about patience. A bagel from a stranger that saved a homeless man’s life. From long overdue adoptions to military heroes returning home; from a fireman’s touching 9/11 tribute to what an old dinner plate found at a bake sale can teach us all about life—these are the moments that matter. They are genuine. Authentic. Raw. And they are perfect in their imperfection—just like all of us. You will no doubt experience goosebumps and tears, but this mosaic of life’s moments will leave you with something even more profound: a reminder that, in the end, love always wins. “This really is the best page on Facebook. It renews your love of humanity. There are still good people. We need more reports of acts of kindness.” —Johnny
Download or read book Go in Peace written by Julia Gatta and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-10 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Helps develop the pastoral skills needed for hearing confessions. Although the sacramental Rite of Reconciliation is included in many Anglican prayer books, nothing has been written expressly Anglicans since the 1980s that focuses on the pastoral skills required for this ministry. This book combines and passes on the teaching, coaching, skill development, and accumulated pastoral wisdom that has not been widely accessible or well integrated into clergy training. Realistic transcripts and "verbatims" of sample confessions and counseling sessions involving a wide range of people makes this a unique ministry resource for most seminaries and theological colleges, plus clergy in general-including Lutheran pastors who use the rite of "Individual Confession and Absolution" in the Lutheran Book of Worship.
Download or read book A Catechism of the Heart written by Benjamin James Brenkert and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the age of twenty-five, Benjamin James Brenkert—a young man from Long Island, a social work student, and an internet vocation to the priesthood—entered one of the historically boldest, influential, apostolic religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Aged thirty-four, and a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in good standing, Brenkert was missioned to the laity by his last religious superior. Brenkert could not come out publicly as a gay Jesuit and support his LGBTQ peers who were being fired from various church employment and volunteer activities because of whom they loved. Brenkert had never concealed his sexuality from his religious superiors, he knew all too well what was written in the Church’s Catechism about homosexuals. Still, he felt uniquely called to respond to God’s invitation to serve him in total love as a priest, something confirmed in him in prayer during his thirty-day silent retreat and affirmed to him by his religious superiors and peers throughout his life in the Jesuits. In his Open Letter to Pope Francis in 2014 Brenkert wrote, “Pope Francis . . . I ask you to instruct the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to tell Catholic institutions not to fire any more LGBTQ Catholics. I ask you to speak out against laws that criminalize and oppress LGBTQ people around the globe. These actions would bring true life to your statement, ‘Who am I to judge?’” In 2015, the United States Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage in Obergell v. Hodges and in 2020, the United States Supreme Court expanded the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite these landmark achievements in the public sector, LGBTQ Catholics still cannot receive communion and must always seek reconciliation. Their flourishing as part of their religious community is always frustrated. Brenkert’s account of his life before, in, and after the Jesuits is interwoven with trials and tribulations, but remains always full of hope, written candidly and with bracing honesty. Brenkert offers readers the opportunity to join him on a theological and spiritual pilgrimage, one that ends with readers making a discernment. The world today is full of distraction, misinformation, and timidity, Brenkert’s pilgrimage is full of conviction, heartful, written with an eagerness to help people of faith and no faith at all find their true selves, all for the greater glory of God.
Download or read book Confessions written by Ella Frank and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-11-11 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I am complex. My love is all-encompassing. And when it comes to my heart, there is only one rule: Don't mess with what's mine. Until the age of seven, I was Joel Alexander Donovan, son of Jimmy. The man who terrorized a town and made its citizens fear the very ground he walked on. Including me, the day I realized that ground ran red with blood. At age eighteen, I became Priest. A man without a past. A man determined to right the wrongs of my father. A man who never believed anyone could love the son of such a monster. But then a thief stole my heart. A sweetheart lit up my world. And I forgot for a moment you should never turn your back on your enemy. And thus begins a lesson to those who would seek to harm: Never underestimate what the Priest will do to protect the Princess and the Prick.
Download or read book Voices of Hope written by Jeannine Gramick and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kissing Fidel written by Magda Montiel Davis and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it mean to be instantly transformed into the most hated person in your community? After meeting Fidel Castro at a Havana reception in 1994, Cuban-born Magda Montiel Davis, founder of one of the largest immigration law firms in South Florida, soon found out. The reception—attended by hundreds of other Cuban émigrés—was videotaped for historical archives. In a seconds-long clip, Fidel pecks the traditional protocol kiss on Montiel Davis’s cheek as she thanks him for the social benefits conferred upon the Cuban people. The video, however, was mysteriously sold to U.S. reporters and aired incessantly throughout South Florida. Soon the encounter was an international cause célèbre. Life as she knew it was over for Montiel Davis and her family, including a father who worked with the CIA to topple Fidel, a nohablo-inglés mother who lived with the family, her five children, and her Jewish Brooklyn-born attorney husband. Kissing Fidel shares the sometimes dismal, sometimes comical realities of an ordinary citizen being thrown into a world of death threats, mob attacks, and terrorism.
Download or read book Confessions Priest written by Ella Frank and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-08-24 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I am complex. My love is all-encompassing. And when it comes to my heart, there is only one rule: Don't mess with what's mine. Until the age of seven, I was Joel Alexander Donovan, son of Jimmy. The man who terrorized a town and made its citizens fear the very ground he walked on. Including me, the day I realized that ground ran red with blood. At age eighteen, I became Priest. A man without a past. A man determined to right the wrongs of my father. A man who never believed anyone could love the son of such a monster. But then a thief stole my heart. A sweetheart lit up my world. And I forgot for a moment you should never turn your back on your enemy. And thus begins a lesson to those who would seek to harm: Never underestimate what the Priest will do to protect the Princess and the Prick.
