I Quit the Priesthood

I Quit the Priesthood

NY Times

Len Schreiner couldn’t help falling in love. So he wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II and waited.

Interview by Danya Issawi

Jan. 20, 2020

---

I grew up in a very Roman Catholic atmosphere in western Kansas and had always been drawn to the priesthood.

I joined the Capuchin religious order in 1976, and I was ordained in 1978 at age 28. Almost immediately, the underlying tension I had felt about intimate relationships really came to the fore. I struggled greatly.

I was in various flirtations with women, or little romantic relationships, but that’s a normal part of life. The Roman Catholic priesthood, though, with its mandatory celibacy, discourages any close contact with women.

Read more.....