Confessions of a gay catholic book

“In demanding celibacy and damning homosexuality, the Catholic Church condemns legions of its top and brightest priests to lives of hypocrisy and shame. Rastrelli recounts his struggle with heart, wit, and courage. The Church’s loss is literature’s gain.”—Mary Roach, author, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

“This forceful memoir will immerse readers in the strain of priesthood and the difficulties of living a double life.”—Publishers Weekly

“Tom Rastrelli is a gifted writer whose personal journey is in­sightful and enormously important. Confessions of a Same-sex attracted Priest is a riveting, dominant book, rich in detail and deeply relevant to the times we dwell in. It exposes painful truths that must be told. Read it.”—Michelangelo Signorile, author, It’s Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, and Winning True Equality

“Tom Rastrelli is that one-of-a-kind blend of courage and talent, a remarkable personal story to tell, a passionate voice, and a sharp, skillful pen with which to fashion the tale.”—Janet Fitch, author, Chimes of a Lost Cathedral

“Tom Rastrelli’s brave, candid, self-critical memoir

Confessions of a Gay Priest: A Memoir of Sex, Love, Abuse, and Scandal in the Catholic Seminary

Tom Rastrelli is a survivor of clergy-perpetrated sexual maltreatment who then became a priest in the adv 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 searching healing, hoping to support others, and striving not to live a double life. Trained to manage sexuality like an addiction, he and his brother seminarians lived in a world

Oof. This was a particularly tough one to browse, and even more complicated to review. Tom Rastrelli, a former Catholic priest, discusses exactly what is promised in the title: sex, love, abuse, and scandal in the church.

Tom was repeatedly sexually abused as an adolescent by his pediatrician, an odious man named Dr. Lauz. In his teenage years, Tom realizes that he is lgbtq+ through experimentation with one of his friends, who engages sexually with Tom but is still deeply homophobic. When Tom goes to college, a sexually and vocationally confused musical theatre aficionado, his family guilts him into going back to church, expecting him to be the good Catholic boy they raised. He meets Father Scott Bell, a cheerful and youth-friendly priest who welcomes Tom back into the church.

During one of Father Scott&#;s sermons on a gospel reading about Jesus healing a deaf man, Tom is awakened. He suddenly and powerfully feels the calling - Ephphatha! - to become a priest.

Thus begins Tom&#;s arduous journey to priesthood. Father Scott takes him under his wing and has him do chores around the church, but the relationship is a mixed one, often emotionally manipulative. Tom continues to str

Confessions of a Gay Married Priest: A Spiritual Journey - Softcover

About the Author

Author of eight books and over forty articles on leadership, social justice, organizational development, education, and spirituality, Maurice L. Monette was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in , and left home at age fourteen to start his teaching in Catholic seminaries. He earned a doctorate in education from Columbia University and master's degrees in adult education and theology from Boston University and Weston School of Theology. Ordained as a priest with the Oblate Fathers (OMI) in , he directed master's programs in church education and direction at Loyola University in New Orleans and led social justice education programs for the Center of Concern in Washington, DC. Since , he has managed an organizational consulting practice, trained consultants, and also directed a master's program in organizational psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, California. He is a founding partner of The Vallarta Institute, which provides leadership coaching, capacity building, and evaluation services to foundations and civil culture clients. In the past year, he has served or

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