I've been quite captivated by this story - a Rc priest who fell in love and became an Episcopalian - so I decided to take the plunge and read his memoirs. The book is quite a page turner and I read it in two sittings.
The first half of the book tells of his early life, life at theological college and work as a parish priest. It also details his media ministry, which is why we even talk about him. He describes how he met his future wife and went out of his way for years to avoid her.
It is clear in this book how he is a devoted man of God. Mission is his top priority and helping the needy in society. He grew up loving the roman catholic church based on his culture, but grew disenchanted when he did not see others in the church with his own sense of love and mission. He was ecumenically focussed and worked with other churches in his neighbourhood in order to meet common goals. Through this work, he had developed strong friendships with Anglican clergy and bishops. He was already on the road to transition when he finally gave in and embraced his future wife for the first time.
Over the next few months, his disillusionment with the RCC deepened as did his relationship with his now girlfriend. He was always on the point of taking the leap from the RCC to TEC, but never has the right time to prepare others for this announcement until his hand was forced by papparazzi pictures.
Then followed a bittersweet few weeks when he was cut off from the RCC yet free to marry the love of his life.
This memoir section of his book was followed by a couple of chapters detailing the inadequacies of the RCC - hypocrisy, coverups, entrenched homosexual activity within the priesthood, shunning of women and progressives, etc.
It ends with finding a church that he felt closely resembled the original church and one which matched his sense of fairness, growth, mission and evangelism. He also quite rightly recognised that TEC, like any other church, is not perfect.
As an Anglican, I was pleased to see a priest with a heart for God. I learned a few things about the RCC that surprised me, such as moving priests from one parish to another with little notice (this could take a year or two in the CofE).
Overall, a very good read. It is probably not a beacon of literary style, bit it makes up for this in passion for God.
The first half of the book tells of his early life, life at theological college and work as a parish priest. It also details his media ministry, which is why we even talk about him. He describes how he met his future wife and went out of his way for years to avoid her.
It is clear in this book how he is a devoted man of God. Mission is his top priority and helping the needy in society. He grew up loving the roman catholic church based on his culture, but grew disenchanted when he did not see others in the church with his own sense of love and mission. He was ecumenically focussed and worked with other churches in his neighbourhood in order to meet common goals. Through this work, he had developed strong friendships with Anglican clergy and bishops. He was already on the road to transition when he finally gave in and embraced his future wife for the first time.
Over the next few months, his disillusionment with the RCC deepened as did his relationship with his now girlfriend. He was always on the point of taking the leap from the RCC to TEC, but never has the right time to prepare others for this announcement until his hand was forced by papparazzi pictures.
Then followed a bittersweet few weeks when he was cut off from the RCC yet free to marry the love of his life.
This memoir section of his book was followed by a couple of chapters detailing the inadequacies of the RCC - hypocrisy, coverups, entrenched homosexual activity within the priesthood, shunning of women and progressives, etc.
It ends with finding a church that he felt closely resembled the original church and one which matched his sense of fairness, growth, mission and evangelism. He also quite rightly recognised that TEC, like any other church, is not perfect.
As an Anglican, I was pleased to see a priest with a heart for God. I learned a few things about the RCC that surprised me, such as moving priests from one parish to another with little notice (this could take a year or two in the CofE).
Overall, a very good read. It is probably not a beacon of literary style, bit it makes up for this in passion for God.
