Thomas the Doubter e-bog

This is the story of Thomas Frank Christian, the doubter. He was brought up on a farm, and influenced by his local pastor, he enters the minor seminary at the age of thirteen to study to become a Roman Catholic priest. We follow him through some ups and downs into the major seminary, where he is sexually attacked by his roommate. Tom goes on to be ordained. He serves six years in suburban parishes and spends many hours working with juveniles and adults who are in trouble with the law. He also begins to question many of the requirements of his church. Some of the questions turn into doubts, and he looks seriously at the need for obligatory celibacy. In his ecumenical contacts with married ministers and rabbis, he decides there is no justifiable reason not to be married and have a family. He goes to the archbishop and tells him he is ready to leave the priesthood. He gives the archbishop six months' notice. Tom goes through a difficult documented process to leave the priesthood, but eventually, Pope Paul VI grants his release to become a layman. A week after resigning, he starts a career in the field of criminal justice as a probation counselor. He spends thirty-five years working in three states, writes three books in his field, and mediates victim-and-offender cases on 48 Hours, HBO, and National Public Radio. Tom is married in a private ceremony to prevent scandal. He and his wife have three children and five grandchildren. In 2019, they celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The book ends with a series of questions and doubts about modern-day religion.