Abstract

Some 120,000 priests have left the Catholic Church in the past 60 years, a third of these in the United States. This book is a personal account of the life of a man who left the priesthood and transitioned into a successful career as an academic. His case illustrates the reasons for leaving that are fairly typical. But above and beyond these it details some deeper systemic problems that he encountered first in the religious realm and then in the secular world into which he moved. Most of these emanate from disparate views about appropriate exercise of authority. Enhancing the story are some poems and a few career pertinent writings by the author.