Fifty Years in a Jealous Marriage

An honest story of one man's life in the Roman Catholic priesthood. This is a book that challenges all of those on either side who claim to have a corner on the Truth. Through this candid and challenging look at celibacy, Father James Lex provides a compelling and emotional portrait of the Roman Catholic priesthood at the dawn of the vocation's third millennium. A lifetime struggle with celibacy is a lifetime struggle to stay whole inside a jealous marriage. As with any marriage, Lex's has been a creative interplay of weakness and strength, of finding and asserting power, and of knowing how and when to submit. This book is the story of any of America's more than 46,000 active and more than 20,000 inactive priests. It is a book about learning the rules and unlearning them.... about learning to love and to let go... about forgiveness and yearning... about the choices people make every day. Fifty Years in a Jealous Marriage chronicles a transformation -- the transformation of a young, naive, eager to please, seminarian into a mature and surprisingly sane, truly catholic, Roman Catholic priest. In addition to being a Catholic priest for more than fifty years, James Lex has an Ed.D. in educational psychology from Indiana University (1972). He self-published two books: My Weakness Is My Strength and The Recycle Cookbook. Working closely with Trappist Father Vincent Dwyer, Lex led retreats for ordained ministers and priests in New Jersey, California, Korea, England, and Ireland (testing more than 3,000 priests). He served as a secular priest in the Diocese of Evansville (Indiana) for fifty years. This time included service as superintendent for Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Evansville and as Spiritual Director for the Diocese of Owensboro(Kentucky) for several years. Ann M. Ennis has worked extensively as a freelance non-fiction writer and earned her bachelor of arts in journalism and political science from IndianaUniversity (1984). Ennis is under contract with Orbis Books as co-authorwith Helen Prejean, C.S. J., for the manuscript The Women of Batahola:Stories of Struggle and Adventure. Ennis has been published in MaryknollMagazine, Sisters Today, Radical Grace and Christian Social Action. She is currently Development Director for Habitat for Humanity of Evansville,Indiana. She is a Lay Affiliate of the Maryknoll Missionary Society.