I would like to tell my story as a way of expressing my gratitude to Sharon Gravelle and Bob Part for all their help and support over this past year.

  When I returned to England last year after a wonderful summer of rekindled love with my soul mate, I was trapped in the loneliness of secrecy and fear of exposure which comes from being in a relationship with a priest. A thousand questions, doubts, hopes, and dreams whizzed round and round in my head until I felt quite upset. I needed advice from someone who understood, who didn’t judge, and who had stood in my shoes. I made tentative steps to find out about there possibly being a group of women in similar situations to myself.

  I contacted a local TV station that I remembered had shown a program several years earlier about women and priests. They gave me an address of the Seven – Eleven group, an anonymous group in England of women who are in relationships with priests. They rarely meet together, but via correspondence, they offer support and advice to each other. The woman I contacted wrote me a long letter explaining all the hardships, joys, and consequences of being in a relationship such as mine. She also gave me the Canadian Corpus website as she felt it might be of some help to my friend in Canada. I emailed the website cautiously to see what was out there. Sharon responded. I wrote back with guarded details about my situation, but gradually through months of patient advice and support, I was able to open up and be completely honest about everything that was on my mind.
  My friend in Canada firmly decided to stay in the priesthood. We shared one more happy time together in October, but then we decided the future of a long-distant and secret relationship with all that it entails was too hard to continue.

  I only wish that making that decision were the end of it. Living with the decision has been excruciating at times, but with Sharon and Bob’s help I have begun to come to terms with the loss I feel. I finally met Sharon and Bob this summer and I stayed with them for a few days. It was a welcome and well needed retreat. Spending time talking with them has helped me deal with the confusion, anger, pain, and rejection that I felt. Most importantly, I am now more able to see the situation from my friend’s perspective. I realize more fully the hardship and pain he feels. I once thought he was weak and afraid for choosing the priesthood over our future together. Now, however, I see what courage and determination of will it takes to remain an unmarried priest despite its limitations and loneliness. He is a good priest and a good man. I hope that from here on we both have the good lives we deserve on our separate paths.

  Maybe I would have come to these conclusions on my own, in time, but I believe the healing process has been quickened and assisted through Bob and Sharon’s help. How many other women and men are struggling without any help at all? I hope one day I can do for others what Corpus Canada’s Bob and Sharon have done for me. It just goes to show that in times of darkness and struggle, there are still blessings. They just might not always be what we expected.
Thank you Sharon and Bob.