A Calling in Question: A Memoir

Peter Walther

Oct 2012 · iUniverse

About this ebook

From the moment of his birth in 1937, author Peter Walther was absorbed into the culture of the Catholic Church. Later, as an eleven-year-old boy, he believed he was called by God to be a missionary priest. Seventeen years later, he found himselfan ordained Catholic priestjourneying to a mission station in Sabah, North Borneo. A Calling in Question tells Walthers story of his struggle to free himself from the tangled web of a Catholic upbringing.

This memoir presents a collage of several stories, weaving in and out like patterns in a fabric. It is the story of a small boy, growing up in the midst of a world war. It is the story of a family caught in the disintegration of the British class system. It is the story of a Catholic Church, toying with the challenge of change and failing to accept that challenge. It is the story of his experiences deep in the Borneo rain forest, where he initiates a project to teach desperately needed vocational skills. It is a story of his burgeoning relationship with a local health worker that forces Walther to finally confront his ambivalence about being a priest.

Most of all, however, A Calling in Question narrates the story of a young man struggling to be authentic while breaking from the embrace of a Catholic culture that had become a substitute for family.

About the author

Peter Walther was born in London, England in 1937. In 1961, he was ordained as a Catholic missionary priest. He worked in North Borneo for six years and then taught in various high schools in Toronto, Canada. Having left the priesthood, he is now married and has two children and one grandchild.