book

I recently heard from a childhood friend that he had contributed a chapter in a book about life in fundamentalist Christian churches from the perspective of individuals who have 'left the fold' of those churches. In the book Leaving Fundamentalism contributors write personal accounts about their experiences with conservative fundamentalist Christianity, either as members of the church, or as outsiders. Jacob Shelley, my friend who contributed a chapter (Life Stages), discusses his youth in the same Canadian pentecostal denomination that I was raised in. I thought he did a great job describing the thought processes and anxiety experienced by a thoughtful young person who is attempting to live a godly life according to the doctrines of the pentecostal church. However, these efforts only lead to a massive guilt complex, fear, and feelings of inadequacy due to his wavering belief in the propositions that are central to the faith of his upbringing. He explores the process of overcoming these conditioned responses in order to achieve intellectual independence and a more mature and dynamic theological understanding.

My new book Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir is now available.  Publishers Weekly described it so: “A lighthearted memoir . . . Pomfret elucidates the eventual resolution of his spiritual crises with considerable integrity and manages to present sympathetic portraits of clergy, biting satires of church practices, and a nuanced rendering of a church and congregation considering its role in a changing world. . . . Unfailingly lively.” Set primarily in Boston during the revelations of the Scandal and the battle over same-sex marriage and gay adoptions, Confession is a funny-but-faithful account of my stalking Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston.  As a federal prosecutor and practicing Catholic, I was attempting to use lawyerly persuasion to change the cardinal's tune.  What I found along the way was a passionately atheist boyfriend, a host of motorcycle lesbians, gay priests, flaming friars, pious prelates, would-be Opus Dei homosexual monks, three “Hale” Marys, Harry Potter’s Satanism, and ten surefire ways to detect a fellow gay Catholic.   

In Sal Sapienza's 2006 novel, Seventy Times Seven, Vito Fortunato gets lots of guidance from God, but the messages do not come via the burning bush. For Vito, the voice of God is mediated variously by George Michael, Madonna (the one that is "like a virgin," not actual the Ever Virgin Herself), a queeny flight attendant who loves Saint Augustine's Confessions, Cat Stevens (a.ka. Yusif Islam), a drunken woman on the subway, Deuteronomy, and Barbara Stanwyck. From these diverse sources, the message is always consistent: Choose Life.

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