We want everyone who takes the opportunity to avail themselves of the information contained within these developing pages to understand the editorial mindset underlying their expression: Those of us who have made the transition from canonical ministry to what is generally called "secular life" did so at great personal expense. It was not a decision made lightly, or on the spur of the moment. Coming through our own Dark Night of the Soul, we came to believe that our decision was leading us closer to, not away from the grace of God.

The overarching goal of the Resigned Priest Pension Advocacy Campaign is to insure that every Roman Catholic Diocese in the United States provides all priests, active and resigned a retirement pension commensurate with their years of service to the Church as a matter of right and justice. Local goals should be guided by the policy and conditions extant in each particular diocese with the ultimate end of securing pension inclusion for all priests. It should be noted that the process of securing a just pension for all priests in your diocese will depend on a number of variables; the most important being the disposition of the bishop to this issue. It will take perseverance and organization sometimes even years to achieve favorable results. Your goals should be calculated to take small steps in a focused campaign in concert with other resigned priests, active priests and laity who support the cause.  

What do you want to leave as your memory? Explore the concept of "spiritual wills".
"I Wanted My Kids to Know Me"

Recently, an acquaintance of mine had the terrible misfortune to lose his Dad in a car accident. As the only child, it fell to Dan to go through his Dad's apartment where his father had lived alone since the death of his wife three years before. He told me that as he cleaned out the apartment, he was hoping to find some kind of personal note that his Dad might have left for him. To his great disappointment, he found nothing. "I just wanted a note, an old letter, something to remind me of my Dad. I found nothing. It made me feel sort of empty, like I was missing something."

That "something missing" is being provided more and more frequently these days by people who have rediscovered the ancient practice of drawing up a spiritual or ethical will. A spiritual will is a way to share your values with your family in the same way that a legal will provides instructions for passing on your property and possessions. Some have described a spiritual will as a love letter to your family and friends. In it you have a chance to tell your spouse or kids what was important to you in life, what you believed in and hoped and prayed for. You can put on paper family stories, ask for forgiveness, relate your most precious memories of them, the way you remember your daughter in her first prom dress and the time your then three year old son ran out of your house buck naked. Maybe you can tell them things about yourself growing up as the kid they never knew, the lessons you learned from life, that special teacher who turned your life around.