Leaving Alexandria

the long version

Richard left his home in Alexandria at fourteen to train for the priesthood. Through the forty years that followed, he touched the lives of many people in the Church and in the wider community. But behind his confidant public face lay a restless, unquiet heart and a constantly searching mind. How can anyone claim a complete understanding of the mystery of existence? Why is the Church, which claims to be the instrument of God's love, so prone to cruelty and condemnation? And how can a man live with the tension between public faith and private doubt? In this memoir, Richard seeks to answer these questions and to explain how, after many crises of faith, he finally and painfully left the Church.--From back cover.