Customer Reviews

Tear in the Desert

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Father Ron draws you in and leaves you hanging on every word. He has a way of making you feel like you are there with him...so close you can almost touch those that he cared for. In the midst of what some could consider "hell on earth", Father Ron still had the ability to say at the end of every day, "God is good...all the time." This book is not about religion or about the war. It is about what it means to be human and we are so deeply affected by what happens around us. Father Ron was not just a Chaplain, he was the last person to touch 81 brave men as they left this world and into the hands of God. He was the one who many injured looked to for reassurance that everything was going to be ok. He was all they had in their final hour...what a blessing. I couldn't put the book down. I read it in one sitting and crave to hear more.

Tear in the Desert by Father Ron Moses Camarda is an astonishing journey that beckons one to explore all the dimensions of the human spirit in a most unlikely, yet timely place, Iraq. You will experience the laughter, horror, joy, bewilderment, pain, and tears of his journey and that of his brothers and sisters on the battlefield. Death and life are presented as both strong and fragile.

Padre Camarda shares with us the strength of his faith and the humanity of his emotions as he allows us to glimpse the true miracle of life in a dying soldier's single tear. This is a book about our own journey, insecurities, love, pain. and redemption.

Father Ron's book is destined to bring souls to God! It is a powerful testimony to the heart of a priest who sees death as a spiritual calling. He brings Jesus to the moment when we must walk on sacred ground and face the loss of a loved one in this world.The war in Iraq presents such a stark background to the holiness of Father's work. The faces and stories I will remember always.

This review was sent to me by my friend Mark Woods:

I wasn't sure how people would react when they opened the newspaper on Christmas morning in 2005. The story I had written filled the front page of the Florida Times-Union. And it wasn't your typical warm-and-fuzzy holiday tale. It was set in Fallujah, not Bedford Falls. It was the story of Ron Camarda, a Catholic priest from Jacksonville who had spent the previous Christmas as a Navy reservist chaplain in Iraq. He kept a journal with the names of troops he ministered to. The list grew to about 2,000. Eighty-one with crosses next to them, representing those who died.

This front page had a photo of the journal cupped in the priest's hands, open to a page of names. The headline said, "The Best Christmas Ever."

The reaction was overwhelming. I kept telling people that any praise should go to Father Ron, that it was his story, that I just tried not to mess it up while re-telling it. Several people said he should write a book. And he did.

It's hard to find a different way of looking at war and Iraq. But Father Ron did. In many ways, his perspective unfolds in reverse. It begins with death, with him being there for the last breaths of lives, with him often knowing little more about the person in front of him than maybe a name, rank or detail on a tattoo. It is after their deaths that he learns about their lives, their loved ones -- and their lasting effect on him. The result is a powerful story about war, faith, love and "the best Christmas ever."

Mark Woods

Father Ron Moses Camarda bares his soul in this account of his experience with the Marines during the battle for Fallujah. Having met Father Ron before his deployment with the Marines and then after he returned and wrote his memoirs of his Iraq experience, I can attest to what he said about himself in the book's introduction, i.e., that he was transformed by that experience. Father Ron hides nothing. He shares his inner most thoughts that sometimes leave you transfixed as you silently ponder, sometimes teary eyed, what you just read. This book is a must read.

Recalled to active duty, Ron Moses reluctantly traveled into the desert to serve in the ongoing war of Iraq. Miraculously, Ron Moses returned to share his account. This journey is one that needs to be told not only of a man's struggle to understand his purpose but of our beloved brothers and sisters who sacrifice while serving the country we love to preserve peace. Even if you are non-military and/or non-catholic you will relate to and appreciate what is genuinely shared by Ron Moses.

Thank you Fr. Camarda for reminding me that no life is more or less than any other, that even the greatest among us has doubts at times and that hope is not lost in the storms of a desert or the yearnings of a broken heart.

Carmen Stenholm, PhD, author of "Crack Between the Worlds"

I just finished Tear in the Desert by Fr. Ron Moses Camarda. I wasn't sure what to expect but wanted to read it because Fr. Ron has just become a Parochial Vicar (associate Priest) in our Parish. He is extremely outgoing,very caring, and absolutely full of heart! After hearing him the first time, I decided I would like to know more about him. Hence - I bought the book Tear in the Desert from Amazon. It is factual, but written with the heart. He tells of his struggles about going to Iraq, what happened on his journey to Iraq, while he was there, all the terrible and even some terrific moments he experienced while there, and his journey back home with all of the memories that will lay on his heart forever.

This book wasn't written so one could cry on every page - but more to understand the struggles of all the men and women who give 100% of themselves to defend our freedom and our democracy.... and how it affected just one human being - Fr. Ron Moses Camarda, Chaplain.

Father Ron Moses Camarda's book Tear in the Desert is an outstanding and spiritually uplifting memoir about one Catholic chaplain's tour of duty during the Iraq war.
Father Ron takes great pains in his book to describe not only the humanity of those ministered to and those around him but his own humanity as well. He discusses his doubts, his fears, and his failings as an angel of peace sent to a theater of war. Filled with his personal recollections, Scripture passages, and his own poetry, some of it written in the back of a Humvee as he transit another dangerous route, the book immerses the reader in Father Ron's experience.

Father Ron ministered to over eighty "angels," or fallen warriors, during his tour. He also ministered to countless wounded, scared, and emotionally scarred. Through it all he leaned on his faith, his humor, and his God to keep him going so he could keep the troops going.

The book is filled with opposites. Terror and peace in the same moment. Hardened Marines sobbing. A priest with thoughts of anger and hopelessness. These are not things one might expect to read in a spiritual book. But these very elements made the book so real that it was impossible to put down.

Anyone who has served in a line unit and has fond memories of their chaplain will enjoy this book, as will just about any veteran or military chaplain. As a military member if I ever have to go back to someplace not so safe, I would be privileged to call Father Ron my "Padre".

A highly inspirational book about the fears and experiences Fr. Ron encountered in Fallujah, Iraq. Fr. Ron, a Roman Caholic priest, was the Navy Chaplain who administered many wounded and dead. Fr. Ron remembered each soldier he attended to through his prayers and blessings. The battle for Fallujah was horrific and Fr. Ron captures the terrifying nights on each page of his book. This book is not just about war but about depending on God in the most devasting tragedies. The prayers and inspirations on each page made this book a page turner for me as I journeyed through the battle at Falluja, Iraq with Fr. Ron Camarda.