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Absolution
Enter a life of duplicity lived near the heart of religious power: Radko Slopovich is a priest promised to celibacy but living with his wife and children. A man with ambition as well as love for his family, his conflicting passions are ignited and challenged when a highly placed Vatican official and a close personal friend ensnare him in a plot to change the Church and advance his career. Seduced by power and torn between his family and his holy vocation, Radko must choose what is real and important in his life. A majestic ending brings together the drama and power that are so distinctive of Catholicism and the humanity of its members, both lay and clerical.
430 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2020
A Different Story
As a former priest who struggled with celibacy, the priestly ministery and human love, this fiction is closer to fact. No doubt it comes from years of listening with understanding to the crimes and misdemeanors of the catholic clergy. Besides the pleasure of reading a gripping tale that gathers momentum and comes to a crashing crescendo, I see two other benefits: it can decrease some of the fear priests feel about leaving, while demonstrating the maturity of our Catholic faithful and how much they need and appreciate the honesty of their pastors. Enjoy!
As a former priest who struggled with celibacy, the priestly ministery and human love, this fiction is closer to fact. No doubt it comes from years of listening with understanding to the crimes and misdemeanors of the catholic clergy. Besides the pleasure of reading a gripping tale that gathers momentum and comes to a crashing crescendo, I see two other benefits: it can decrease some of the fear priests feel about leaving, while demonstrating the maturity of our Catholic faithful and how much they need and appreciate the honesty of their pastors. Enjoy!
October 6, 2008
ABSOLUTION was written by a neighbor of mine and lent to me by another neighbor. That's why I read it, a gesture of neighborly loyalty rather than eager interest.
The story is rather far-fetched: a Roman Catholic priest falls in love, marries the woman, lives a double life for six years, and is made a bishop as, unknown to him, part of a high-level plot to change the Church's mandate on clerical celibacy. As a Catholic I know - or rather, I think I know! - how currently unlikely such a scenario is.
The events of the story are a bit simplistic, and the conclusion even more so. I forgive him all that because Midden developed his plot and his characters with grace and a sense of reality. A novel is after all an opportunity to suspend disbelief and jump into the writer's world.
Also, Midden doesn't have any bad guys; everybody has at least one saving virtue or motive. And that, I judge, is the factual part of the book.
The story is rather far-fetched: a Roman Catholic priest falls in love, marries the woman, lives a double life for six years, and is made a bishop as, unknown to him, part of a high-level plot to change the Church's mandate on clerical celibacy. As a Catholic I know - or rather, I think I know! - how currently unlikely such a scenario is.
The events of the story are a bit simplistic, and the conclusion even more so. I forgive him all that because Midden developed his plot and his characters with grace and a sense of reality. A novel is after all an opportunity to suspend disbelief and jump into the writer's world.
Also, Midden doesn't have any bad guys; everybody has at least one saving virtue or motive. And that, I judge, is the factual part of the book.
April 10, 2016
Great book
Midden took all her learned over the years of counseling priests in crisis and used it to produce a good piece of fiction
Midden took all her learned over the years of counseling priests in crisis and used it to produce a good piece of fiction
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews