A new book, just released, about life at a seminary, focusing on the journeys of five men:

How can we trust that as a Catholic your reportage will be objective?

I wrote this book in part because I was tired of reading the sugar-coated stories of priests and seminarians in Catholic publications. I am a reporter by training and a humanist by inclination. I believe that most people can smell propaganda – I actually think that is part of the problem in recruiting new priests. I mean, the stories people would respond to about religious life just aren’t being told.

People simply don’t buy fairy tales, nor do men commit themselves to lifelong religious service based on a fairy tale. The real vocation story is almost always messy, filled with ambiguities, and it can do more than any fairy tale to underscore the triumph of faith. The real story is not only a better read but a corrective to the widespread misperceptions about this incredibly difficult occupation.