Description
Describes changes in the Catholic Church, the priesthood, and society through the experiences of members of the class of 1969 at a Milwaukee seminary, including priests, ex-priests, and those who left the seminary before ordination
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In the fifties, Raymond Hedin was one of a group of adolescents entering a very traditional seminary. Their time of training was one of dramatic changes within the Catholic Church, changes which they experienced and embraced. When as young men they emerged "into the world" at the end of the sixties, they discovered a place a good deal more complicated than their protected environment had led them to expect. They found that their sense of themselves as special, chosen by God, afforded them no special protection from the turmoil they encountered - without and within.Married to the Church tells the story of those men, the personal and professional changes they have undergone, the strategies they employ to keep themselves going. Based on extended conversations between the author and his former classmates over a five-year period, the book offers a compelling look at a generation of priests, former priests, and other ex-seminarians who embody many of the central issues that currently besiege believers and ex-believers.
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