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BODY AND BLOOD
by Michael Schiefelbein
St Martin's Minotaur, September 2007
240 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0312330197


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

In seminary school at the age of 16, Chris Sieb fell in love with fellow student Jack Canston, but they parted. Now it's 25 years later and they meet again. Even though Chris has been celibate all those years, they fall into an affair right away as they share the living quarters at St John's Diocesan Center in Kansas City.

Their feelings for each other are strained after a friend, also a gay priest, commits suicide because he couldn't find a way to stop his feelings for men. Chris is torn by what he and Jack are doing with each other, but Jack insists that celibacy is only a promise to the church and not a vow. He has been involved with many men over the years and doesn't see it taking anything away from his duties as a priest.

Things between the two men get even more strained as Jack keeps many secrets from Chris. Then there's even more turmoil as a young gay man from their parish tries to get both Jack and Chris in trouble with the church. And when the church makes it plain that gay man won't be accepted as priests, the pressure builds to too high a level for Chris.

Author Michael Schiefelbein studied to be a priest and so I guess he understands what kind of feelings closeted gay man in the Catholic church must have. This story is advertised as a mystery but actually the only mystery that appears again and again simply has to do with the lies that Jack keeps telling Chris and that Chris keeps accepting until he finds out that he wasn't told the truth yet again. That continues throughout the book. There are a few sex scenes in this book so it's not for everyone.

BODY AND BLOOD is the story of two priests who live their lives while trying to keep their faith and their calling in a church that won't accept them for who they really are.

Reviewed by A. L. Katz, August 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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