Belief and Unbelief: Writing Catholic Biography

Loughery talks about his Catholic life. Being gay at the age of thirteen probably played some part on one side of the line: he never felt so magnificently attired as when he put on that long red confirmation robe in sixth grade. He probably associated the priesthood with an avoidance of any pressure to marry and father children. He probably loved the nuns for their model of celibacy as well as their charity and compassion. Yet it also played a part from the other end of the spectrum: if the church, like the state, wanted to condemn him for his nature, he would live without the church.