Customer Reviews

The New Men

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As an agnostic --> athiest, I was intrigued by the question, "Why would anyone become a priest?" This book gives a brief glimpse into the possible answers, all of which are very personal and unique.

I found Murphy's book an interesting and in many ways inspiring read. The struggles of the individual seminarians who are profiled here are gripping. Even more compelling is the manner in which these men, of varied backgrounds, approached their prayer lives and developed their own approaches to the challenges of celibacy, the loss of their old lives, etc. I heartily recommend it.

This book provides a very good insight into life as a seminarian in Rome, which is known as the "high end" school for training in the priesthood. You will learn many of the feelings and thoughts of seminarians as they travel through 4 years of high powered spiritual training. Their human feelings as well as their high spiritual goals are freely shared. These men have chosen to dedicate their lives to being servants of God, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. You will be a better informed Catholic after you have read this book and you will be more understanding of the priests that you meet in your life from this point on.

Though I am only a quarter of the way through this book, I cannot seem to put it down. It is a narrative style book, and follows these young men through the stripping down (metaphorically speaking) of themselves to conform to the standard of priesthood. This book already has given me a glimpse of what it might have been like for the priests that I know that went to the NAC. It does seem to center on the Landry twins and Chris Nalty above the others, though maybe that changes later in the book. It also gives a good look at (now) Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

This story gives the reader an intimate look into the struggles and triumphs of six seminarians studying at the North American College in Rome. Murphy allows us to see the "behind the scenes" formation of priests, and will totally change the way you look at priests today. This story will inspire anyone and everyone who reads it with the honesty, humility, and openness in which it is written. This book has truly helped me in discerning my own vocation, and has given me a better awareness of the men behind the black cassocks and Roman collars. Recommended to all, especially those who are discerning a vocation to the religious life.

Brian Murphy's THE NEW MEN is a unique look at preparation of Catholic priests. The author, raised a Catholic, but has been somewhat a lapsed Catholic as an adult, looked at men preparing to be priests. He found young men who were far more interesting than he expected and found in them a faith that was more alive than he suspected. While the subject matter of the book is not all that original, his choice of seminarians is intriguing. Murphy selected candidates preparing for priesthood at the North American College in Rome. Candidates live at the North American College and study at various institutions in Rome. The seminarians in the book reflect the variety of vocations in many American seminaries. Some are raised in traditional Catholic families; others have made discoveries about faith that led them to pursue priesthood. Each has a love for the Church and aspires to serve God as a priest. While none of the candidates is an example of perfection, none of the candidates exemplify what we find in books about Seminarians by Donald Cozzens or the drivel found in Michael Rose's book. Each candidate is a solid person who has left behind great opportunities, girlfriends, and a promising future. We discover that these young men with great gifts also have the same struggles as anyone else. What makes the book fascinating is that w may be reading early snippets of the lives of future leaders of the Church.

I am going to have to admit, when I first read this book a few years ago, I was somewhat cynical about it. While I was impressed with many of the personal issues the seminarians dealt with, it did at time strike me as corporate training for leadership in the Church. While I know that the Church needs competent leaders, the book sometimes seemed to be a Wall Street approach to preparing for priesthood rather than a gospel based approach. That was pre-scandal, however. As I look at this book today, knowing that the scandal has highlighted many of the failures of the Church's leaders, and knowing that many people fear for the future of the Church, this book does give us glimpses into the lives and training of some young men who could very well be leaders ion the Church in the future, and it does give us reason to hope.

The North American College in Rome is the most prestigious seminary for future priests from the US. I expected the book would focus on the North American College as an organization, but rather it describes six new seminarians during the 1995-96 academic year, going into a great deal of detail about their backgrounds and their spiritual journeys while at the College.

It's as though the six came from central casting - the introverted Asian immigrant, the ex-fighter pilot, the homesick farm kid from the prairies, the high-living New Orleans lawyer, and a pair of identical twins. These are a conservative bunch, both in the sense of US politics as well as in terms of accepting traditional church doctrine. Most of them are constantly wrestling with their "calling" - essentially their turmoil over renouncing sex forever - and the endless pages devoted to their inner ruminations do get tedious after awhile. Despite its flaws, I found the book entertaining to read.

I was surprised that two of the six seminarians had ongoing romantic relationships back in the US. The saddest part was when one of the seminarians tells his girlfriend over the phone that it's over, while she genuinely thought his enrollment in seminary was a passing fling. Otherwise, there is nothing here remotely scandalous or shocking.

I was once one of "The New Men" this book refers to, though a few years before the time of this story's telling. Many things seem to have changed but many more remain in place, particularly the feeling of being one of the "elite", a "bishop-to-be", the feeling of being utterly torn between the sacred and the profane. I left after only a year, but reading these personal stories of struggle - the joys and the sadness - took me back to a time that, for better or worse I will never forget and always treasure. And Murphy captures the culture of "NAC" pretty accurately.

Presenting many of the challenges and blessings of the experience of priestly formation, Murphy does a spectacular job presenting the day-to-day experience of six men and those that help shape their lives. With an empathetic appreciation for the discernment process that these men are going through (at the time of the book's writing), I can attest to the general legitimacy of the issues presented.

What is also significant is the great skill that Murphy has in the area of writing, understandably so for a staff member of the Associated Press. He does a spectacular job of making what might otherwise appear to be a mundane relaying of professional training and spiritual discernment a very intriguing and page-turning experience.

I would highly recommend this book for it is well written, appropriately researched and truly interesting.