Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction J. Robert Baker 1
Late Have I Loved Thee, O Ancient of Days 11
Somewhere, a Summer of '42 14
The Pocket-Size God 18
Empty Spaces, Lonely Places 21
A Letter to the Class of '73: Darby and I Never Said We Didn't Love You 29
An Everlasting Morning 37
Christmas on 42nd Street 42
About Friendship 51
I Remember the Fire 58
On Ancient Rituals and Modern Youth 62
Premarital Sex: Thou Shalt Not? 69
The Holy Fool 73
A Mass for the Littlest Christians 78
You Cannot Sing a Night Song 81
Simeon's Christmas 86
Before the Daylight Fails 93
A True Confession 99
A Storybook Marriage 104
A Brother's Requiem 109
The Bag Lady's Windfall 113
Part of the Myth 117
Life in the Boot Camp Seminary 121
Bill and Pat 125
A Parting Gift 128
"You Shall Be My Special Possession" 131
You Get What You Need 135
A Broken-Down Holy Man 141
How He Plays the Game 144
Facing Life without Father 147
"I Have Chosen You" 150
Under the Dome, Most of It Seems True 153
"We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us" 157
"I Prayed Like Hell Every Damn Night" 162
In Defense of Those Who Care 169
A Rabbi Hears Confession 175
As American as God, Sin, and Jimmy Swaggart 181
Confessions of a Bibliomaniac 188
Apologia pro Vita Mea 192
One Pope at a Time 204
Love on Trial 212
Mortal Friends 220
The Flame Keepers 228
The American Dream as a Religious Experience 237
A Bridge Too Far 241
And One of Them Was My Brother 255
The Lost Youth of Mickey Ashford 266
The Flower-Child Priest Comes Home to the Cross 272
Stop the Fighting 278
Alter Christus 285
List of Sources 293