It has been thirty years now, since I was "reduced to the lay state". This event took place in 1972 during the Pontificate of Paul VI . The document  from Rome was sent to Syracuse because I was studying at Syracuse University at the time. I was taking Communications, specifically, Television and Radio. These were studies not particularly relevant for a cleric but had a practical value in the “world”.

After ordination in 1961 I found the adjustment to the modern world to be difficult and confusing. I had spent seven years living in the 13th century both mentally -studies had changed little from the middle ages,  physically pastoral setting and farm life, and spiritually  this was just before Vatican 11 was called by John XXIII. The lifestyle of seminaries of those days was certainly healthy and wholesome but in no way was it a training for work among modern people.

In 1973, after living in Ontario (mostly Ottawa) for twenty years , I had the good fortune of being offered a job in Newfoundland (where I was born). The job was with Memorial University where I worked with the Extension Service and with the Educational Television Dept. for twenty three years as a film and video maker, an adult education specialist and a communications trainer. 

In 1975 I married Pat, a wonderful woman who has always been "the wind beneath my wings " and we have two great boys who are now in their early twenties.

I believe that the attitudes of people about men who make a transition from the priesthood  have changed greatly over the past thirty years.

In 1980 I was asked by a broadcaster friend of mine to appear on a local CBC television program called, "Dialogue". Knowing that this man was a thoughtful person and in no way a sensationalist, I agreed to go on the show. In 1980 it was a very novel thing for anyone to speak about leaving the priesthood in Newfoundland and the program drew a  good audience. I felt the discussion was very sane and reasonable and the interviewer was very understanding and polite. As soon as I got home the phone started to ring. It rang continuously until eighteen calls had come in to me. All but one of these calls were in high approval of what I had said and the actions I had taken. What surprised me most was that all the people who phoned me were of my parents generation. They thanked me for the information and for sharing my story. These were people of the old school and I really did not anticipate  this very positive response. 

I now realize that when Church officials used the phrase "people are not ready yet" for this information, they had no idea what they were talking about. The faithful have always had a lot of common sense, given to them by the Spirit of God and they should never be underestimated. The so called conservative people who phoned me after the show suggested to me that the Church should have told them about the issue of leaving the priesthood long ago and not have treated them like children as per usual.

About a month later, realizing that the Church needed to be defended, a couple of the older priests got on the same CBC program and, in my mind, did more damage to themselves by not being prepared and really saying nothing. For my part I had said nothing about the Church that needed defending in the first place. I had said that my departure from the ministry had nothing to do with theology or belief in the truths of Catholic Christianity but had everything to do with the current lifestyle of clerics who were expected to live unmarried, outside the family context as a separate caste of people. This lifestyle was in no way fixed in stone and had only been in operation for about half of the total years that the Church was in the world. 

Shortly after I had returned from Syracuse to Newfoundland I wrote a letter to the then Archbishop, offering my services to the dioceses in any way that he saw fit. He sent me a very sincere letter, thanking me and saying that perhaps some time in the future some of these things could possibly come about, but for now, I really appreciated this response as he was being truthful and understanding.

Thirty years later, the laity hardly think twice about departures from the priesthood. They are most supportive to those of us who have gone through or are going through life transitions. They are ready to help with advice, material goods and moral support to those who have given a major portion of their lives to training for or active years in the priesthood.

I believe that the Catholic laity are no longer waiting for that time when new armies of young celibates will fill our seminaries because they know that this is not going to happen again. Not soon. Not ever.  

In the meantime, who are we who have resigned? Are we to be a lost generation... a transition people? I think we are more a transition people, a twentieth century phenomena called upon to show that there are many unresolved problems with the priesthood. These problems will have to be solved if the Church is to go on with the work of Christ. Having piles of new priests appearing on the scene may not be the solution at all.

Many things in the Church have changed. Why has the life of priests remained so inflexible? Why are church leaders so fearful to discuss the priesthood in relationship to the celibacy issue? In these times can you really "withdraw" certain things from discussion? Jesus never limited discussions on anything. He was ready to face anything.

Those of us who have left the active ministry are a part of church history. 

In future times we will be looked upon as a large group of clerics who left the ministry in the latter half of the twentieth century, during an "unsettled" time in church history. But then has there ever been a settled time in church history?

For whatever reason, young men no longer  seem to see much sense in serving Christ by living a life separate from the laity while following a celibate lifestyle. I was in the seminary in the fifties with one hundred young men from all over Canada, many of them among the smartest, most promising young men in the country. (I include Chris Diamond, Jim Noonan, Joe Gubbles and many others.) All the seminaries were filled in those days.

Today there are more lay men and lay women studying theology and ministry then there are male celibate seminarians. So, what does the future hold for ministry in the Roman Catholic Church? Clearly, the old models will not prevail or resurrect themselves. We are in for new models of ministry. "The old order passes, giving way to the new, and God fulfills Himself in many ways." These new ways are being painfully born right now.