Contact: Maridith Geuder
What began as a record for his children now is the published memoir of a university professor's early career as a priest and his decision to leave that calling.
Henry J. Donaghy, professor emeritus of English at Mississippi State, recently completed "Vessels of Clay," a 180-page book published by 1st Books of Bloomington, Ind. The New York City native entered seminary in the 1950s, eventually becoming a member of the Holy Cross order.
Now living in Las Vegas, Nev., the one-time member of the Jesuit brotherhood said he "has few regrets about leaving the priesthood." Happily, Donaghy added, spirituality can be found in the secular world.
After providing some of the reasons a young man would enter the priesthood, he examines the same religious issues from a 40-year retrospective. Donaghy also makes certain readers understand that his memoir is not an attack on Catholicism. This is evident in his candid thoughts on the subject of pedophile priests--a major controversy today in both the Catholic Church and international secular society.
Recalling his time as a seminarian who questioned the concept of obligatory celibacy, he theorizes that the practice may, in fact, "lead a person to be lonely as well as psychologically and spiritually handicapped." Of his spiritual journey, he added: "As I went through each stage of seminary, I found an uneasiness that I thought was homesickness."
When petitioning to leave the priesthood in 1966, Donaghy said he had no feelings of anxiety because he had come to appreciate that "we ignore our feelings at great risk." Donaghy went on to complete a master's degree from Fordham University and a doctorate from New York University, both in English literature. He led MSU's English department from 1988 until retirement in 1997.
He also is the author of two scholarly books--"Conversations with Graham Greene," and "James Clarence Mangan."
For more about "Vessels of Clay," visit http://www.1stBooks.com/bookview/14981.