The New White Martyrdom: Cancellation of Good Catholic Priests
The clash between traditional Catholic teaching and its compromised modern equivalent reaches a climax in this novel by a multiple bestselling Amazon author.
My new novel “A Truthful Man” simply had to be written.
It had to be written because hundreds of good and holy Catholic priests are having their priestly faculties removed, their accommodation taken way and their pay reduced or stopped altogether.
What is their crime? Proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ, and having the courage to speak out against the current culture in defence of God’s Truth.
These men dare to be Catholic and their superiors don’t like it: they find authentic Catholicism ‘offensive’ and fear the laity will, too. Such prelates have forgotten that the people of His day found Christ offensive. The truth hurts, but must be declared in order to save souls. As the Bride of Christ, our Church is supposed to be in this world, but not of this world. We’re supposed to be counter-cultural, proclaiming the unchanged and unchanging Truth, that Rock for us to cling to, however crazy the world around us becomes.
On the other hand, progressive priests who show no reverence for the Real Presence or any belief in Catholic doctrine, are given the green light by their superiors to pursue their ungodly and wholly un-Catholic agenda.
What Is Being Done?
Does anyone care about these holy and abandoned priests, whose vocations are in ruins?
In my related podcast What Is Truth? I talk about ‘a group of committed Catholics, lay people and clergy’ who have joined forces ‘after one too many instances of persecution of betrayal.’ The mission of this group, The Coalition for Canceled Priests is to spiritually and materially support ‘faithful priests who seek to return to active ministry after being unjustly canceled by their bishops.’
In penning this novel, I hope to do my part in bringing awareness to the plight of these priests and to the organization that is helping them.
What’s the Book About?
“A Truthful Man” follows Father James, a traditional Catholic priest who is happily settled in the tiny parish of King’s Brambling on the coast of southern England. He loves preaching the truth and his parishioners love him.
An old university friend, Mark Boulder is also pleased with life as the founder of a highly successful investment company. His brother-in-law is the influential bishop, who ensures that a good proportion of church donations flow into the coffers of Mark’s new charity for senior citizens.
Mark is hailed as an upstanding citizen. But his life of lies starts to crumble around him and he lashes out against the infuriatingly upright Father James, with the help of the bishop.
Father James discovers what fate awaits a priest who insists on telling the truth, whatever the cost. The bishop’s retaliation is swift and severe and the pastor is kicked out of his rectory.
Now on the wrong side of the law as well as his whole community, Mark is soon aware that the only person who can aid him is the very priest whose vocation he has destroyed.
But even if he can humble himself to ask Father James for forgiveness, why should the betrayed priest help him?
The Takeaway
It is my hope that the reader will find the book entertaining, while learning something of what is going on in the Catholic Church today and what the laity can do about it. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen says, it’s up to us, the people, to “see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
May this novel inspire you to help our holy canceled priests. We need them back in the pulpits!
Hilary Walker Books 