Mystery: Author's years of study for priesthood add intrigue to mystery of ‘Body and Blood'
Mystery: Author's years of study for priesthood add intrigue to mystery of ‘Body and Blood'

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Published: October 7, 2007

Somehow, one wouldn't expect a man who studied for the Catholic priesthood for 10 years to write a mystery, especially one as compelling as "Body and Blood” (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95).

Michael Schiefelbein, a professor of writing and literature who lives in Memphis, Tenn., took the advice often given aspiring writers: Write about what you know. He knew theology, and it's evident in every page of his novel. The priesthood's loss is literature's gain.

Long-buried secrets flavor this story, which begins when teenage seminarians Chris Sieb and Jack Canston develop a crush. After 25 years apart, the two gay priests find themselves in the same diocese, and the old feelings return. The unlikely suicide of another priest adds to the complexity of it all.

Sieb and Canston debate whether to continue their love affair while remaining priests. One wants to do so; the other wants to take up another vocation. Celibacy in the priesthood, of course, is thoroughly debated.

Schiefelbein's writing is crisp and flowing. His descriptions of Catholic ritual and practice are thorough and reverent, and his perceptions about issues facing the church are interesting. A subtle beauty pervades this text despite the more controversial parts.

Because the writer earned a doctorate in English from the University of Maryland after his theology studies and took up a secular career, the reader is apt to wonder if the book is partly autobiographical.

— Dennie Hall

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