Customer Reviews

The Collar

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I think I've read just about every book I've come across that deals with the Roman Catholic priesthood and seminary life and formation, or at least every popular book that has been released on the subject. As far as capturing seminary life from one who has experienced it both in the 1980's and 90's and can count among my closest friends people who have experienced it in the distant past, recent past and anywhere in between, I'd have to say that THE COLLAR is one of the best books written on the subject.

My guess is that there are a number of reasons why this is the case. Author Jonathan Englebert seems agenda free. He's not out to expose weak candidates, poor seminary systems, or write an exposé on seminaries filled with abnormal individuals who find themselves in a seminary setting. In some ways this could have been tempting, given the fact that Englebert interviewed his subjects during the academic year of 2002-2003 when the sexual abuse crisis was daily news and books such as OUR FATHERS and GOODBYE GOOD MEN were bestsellers. Instead he focuses solely on his subjects and their lives and Sacred Heart Seminary become the story. Englebert looks at a group of candidatures often forgotten: men who have had lives and careers and make a major change in their life's direction in pursuing priesthood. We see the ups and downs of seminary life, why the candidates chose to study for the priesthood, why some will be ordained and others will not.

For me, while the candidates were not all that similar to the people I studied with--most were around my age and had similar life experiences--I did see a seminary that was very close to the one I attended. As I read I could feel the excitement of a new year, the ennui that sets in mid-semester, the winter moths where I wanted to give it all up but knew I wouldn't, the spring where it was crunch time, and in spite of the ups and downs, I felt a sense of satisfaction for something that was accomplished when all was said and done, just like many of the people in this book. I understood the disappointment many in the seminary community felt when candidates left the seminary and I understood the bonds that can develop in a seminary. Nerves about evaluations, the feelings one feels when every move is being scrutinized, those who feel rector's conferences are prophetic and other s who believed the conferences were a waste of time, those who believed that some activities were too juvenile while others believed these same activities built community--all of these are aspects of seminary life and Englebert presents them all as they are.

My only wish is that the book was organized a bit differently. Englebert focuses on the school year which is reasonable, but the chapters are somewhat long and with so many different people being interviewed and written about, it could at times be a bit confusing. I began using an index card as a bookmark and write down names which helped me keep them straight, but all in all this book is a great read and should be encouraging for Catholics. Even in these troubled times, there are still good candidates who are real entering the priesthood. People should look forward to these men serving in their parishes and we priests should look forward to welcoming these colleagues.

I was quite impressed with THE COLLAR by first time author Jonathan Englert. It's a potent mix of solid research and great writing that really gets the reader inside the mind of today's seminarian. I wouldn't be surprised if this book launches more than a few vocations.

A really thrilling read

This book is worth every penny. I was very impressed by the breadth of the research. Englert clearly uses his background in immersion journalism to give us a new and eye-opening picture of seminary life in America. At a time where seminaries are so misunderstood by popular culture, this is a refreshing read. I would recommend this to any family curioius about the formation of priests today.

Unlike similar works, this book introduces you to men you might recognize. They had worldly lives, flaws and attachments. I found this to be an inspiring story of how common men could be something greater through service and sacrifice.

The Catholic priesthood has always stood apart from its Protestant and New Age counterparts because of its unique fusion of the mystical and the material, the magical and the mundane, ministry and majesty, sacrament and sacrifice; a generation ago Archbiship Sheen wrote from a lifetime of inside insights a late book titled "Those Mysterious Priests." Englert, a devout but clear-eyed journalist with a considerable touch of a poet, has taken the mystery into a new millennium, one beset by challenges, conflict, and decline not seen since the days of the Reformation. His refreshingly human, humane, and yet probing study of men who seek to embrace the challenge of a call to service and holiness offers fruitful reading by all who, whether Catholic, Protestant, agnostic, or any combination thereof, may thirst for answers to the very notion of 'vocation.' It reads like a novel, yet it enriches the reader with ideas and questions that resonate long after the final page is spent. It should win a Pulitzer Prize for craftmanship that matches the scope of its conception. An ideal marriage of substance and style that should be a model for courses in journalism, even within the most secular of ivy-clad walls. Also required reading for anyone who may hear the whisper of a higher call. Bravissimo!

As a product of many years of seminary training, beginning in high school, I could see it all come back in living color with this book. Isn't it sad that so many men enter and so many good men leave, with many referring to the years of training leading up to priesthood as "hell" and "something you just have to get through". This book captures the truth of that feeling, without sermonizing or trying to teach life lessons.
I was a bit surprised at the over emphasis on profiling formerly married men, and holding up the standard male image as something to be emulated in priesthood. No question these are true heterosexual men in this seminary. Any hint of gay men in this place is glanced over or sadly treated with disdain.
The book itself is quite good, portraying men struggling to make sense of the pull of vocation, and a seminary system and church bureaucracy rife with all the failings of any unchanging institution.

What a great book. The high walls of the seminary have always enclosed a mysterious process to most of us. This book tells us how several seminarians thought and felt as they went through the process of becoming priests - - or of almost becoming priests. It is clearly the "real McCoy" - - nothing held back, and nothing exagerated. A documentary as readable as some of the best novels I have every read.

If you have any interest whatsoever in how men become Catholic priests -- especially men who are embarking on the priesthood as a second career -- read this book! It reads like a novel, and I loved getting to know each of the men protrayed -- fascinating and extremely well-written.

Don't judge this book by its cover. Even though it's beautifully designed it doesn't begin to reveal the riveting human dramas in the pages of The Collar. You may think you already know alot about priests but I guarantee that if you are like most people you really don't. This book reads like a novel but it is filled with facts and details about what becoming a priest today is all about. It's also a one of a kind book. The author, a journalist, actually had complete, incredible access inside the normally off-limits world of a Catholic seminary. You won't believe some of the things he saw and it will change your mind about priests forever. As a woman, I initially thought that this book wouldn't be something I would be interested in, but I found it page turning since the human stories and the struggles of these men (some widowed and divorced) were told so effectively. As someone down the page wrote...this is one you'll want to have in hardcover!

Many Catholics have questions or doubts about what goes on in the formation of a priest. Or at least I did before reading this book. What goes on inside the seminary is a closely guarded secret. I found this book as I scanned through the small bookshelf of a thrift store in Pasadena with hopes of finding something at least remotely interesting. The title on the spine of the book caught my eye, "The Collar," and reached hopefully for the book. After reading the summary on the back I was sure that it would be a great insight into the formation of Catholic priests. And it helped that the author of the book, John Englert, was a Catholic convert.

The book takes place in a Catholic Seminary called Sacred Heart in Milwaukee, which specializes in preparing of older men, even retired and widowed men, for ordination into the Catholic priesthood. Englert takes a different approach by narrating the story as if the reader had been living alongside the men in their time in the seminary. There are some interesting characters that bring the story to life, although at times their personal lives take the spotlight away from their experience in the seminary.

Englert's take on the Catholic seminary really opened my eyes to all that our priests go through before ordination. Many men are called to enter, but many don't make it through. The reasons range from problems with authority and hierarchy to old ex-girlfriends. He explains how each seminarian goes through phases and at times come very close to losing their faith, but at the last minute it is renewed and fulfilled. Our Catholic priests are good men, but this book helps us to remember that they are just that, men.

I recommend this book to all my fellow Catholics, as well as my non-catholic brothers and sisters. At just under 300 pages it's not a difficult read. The Collar will enlighten you to the truth about what happens behind the scenes at the seminary and you'll understand and appreciate your priest even more. I give this book a four out of five, for the slow parts, but as a whole it's great addition to my collection.

Ricky Jones
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