The Collar

Why would a man today give up a secular life to become a priest? Jonathan Englert sets out to answer that question by following five men through formation at Sacred Heart Seminary in Milwaukee. Many of the seminarians he describes have already built a working life in another field and come to the priesthood as a later-in-life calling, and their path is the book's central thread.

The group is a varied one. There is a divorced father from Wyoming who loves to hunt, a former salesman who served as a Marine and lives with ADHD, a father of four who was recently widowed, and a blind musician. The fifth is a student in his final year of training, close to ordination. Englert gives each of them room to tell his own story.

The book looks at the hard parts of priestly life, including obedience and chastity, along with the doubts of friends and family who question the choice. The men speak with humor and, at times, with a painfully open honesty.