This the personal story of an Episcopal priest who worked in Newark, Harlem and the Upper West Side of Manhattan during the turbulent times of the 1960s and 70s. He offers his reflections on the many social and theological changes that took place during the past 60 years, and how he has inter-acted with the everchanging roles of women, Blacks and gay persons.
An inside look at the emotional and spiritual struggles and joys of an extraordinary priest called to serve in one of Philadelphia's toughest neighborhoods. Faced with gangs, poverty, drugs and an often felt feeling of hopelessness, Father Mac, is a tireless crusader, handing out food to the poor, interceding with colleges on behalf of promising students, and occasionally bailing out neighborhood kids from night court.
This book presents a selection of the best of the weekly 'Pastor Iuventus' columns from The Catholic Herald. Arranged over a year, the columns give us a true-life picture of the ministry of a parish priest in a busy city. The diary convincingly conveys the tangible and day-to-day reality of a priest's life and work. The journal is about the endless fascinations of parish life: the highs and lows, births and deaths, new challenges, and, amongst all these, the quiet presence of God. The author tells it as it is, with candour and insight, but also with humour and brilliance. Through the everyday life of the parish, the local hospital and the school, we are given an intimate portrayal of real life. The reader will be moved and inspired by the beauty and depth of these weekly columns. As the year unfolds, the journal reminds us of the closeness of the Providence of God to every human life. As Dr William Oddie says in the Foreword to the first edition, Father Allain's diary column provides readers with "an often vivid inside track on the spiritual life of a parish priest, in a way which certainly conveys its pressures and difficulties, but which also nurtures the spiritual imagination of its readers by demonstrating that those pressures and difficulties can always - with a simple and basic faith in the realities of a working Catholic spirituality - be withstood and transcended." Fr Dominic Allain was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Southwark. Now the International Pastoral Director for 'Grief to Grace' - a programme which brings spiritual and psychological healing to survivors of sexual and other abuse (www.grieftograceuk.org), he also works as a retreat giver and spiritual director. This book draws on his experiences as a parish priest and hospital chaplain in the London area. He is well-known to many through his weekly columns, 'Pastor Iuventus', in The Catholic Herald.
This the personal story of an Episcopal priest who worked in Newark, Harlem and the Upper West Side of Manhattan during the turbulent times of the 1960s and 70s. He offers his reflections on the many social and theological changes that took place during the past 60 years, and how he has inter-acted with the everchanging roles of women, Blacks and gay persons.
In this classic Catholic novel, Bernanos movingly recounts the life of a young French country priest who grows to understand his provincial parish while learning spiritual humility himself. Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Academie Française, The Diary of a Country Priest was adapted into an acclaimed film by Robert Bresson. "A book of the utmost sensitiveness and compassion... it is a work of deep, subtle and singularly encompassing art." - New York Times Book Review