About the Book
Journey to Joy
From Spiritual Rigidity to Freedom
Start with a man motivated by fear, hemmed in by rules and regulations, knowing his obligations, but not aware of his feelings, with an eye strictly focused on an uncertain future of heavenly happiness.
Formats and Editions
Paperback
$10.17
Kindle
$3.99
Excerpt # 1 (p. 12)
Leaving the active priesthood was not easy. It took me two to three years to agonize my way through to the decision. In some ways, I compared it to marriage and divorce. I had committed myself for life to a celibate priesthood with a promise to obey my superiors. Initially there was no problem.
Excerpt #2 (pp.143-44)
I met my dinner partner, Louise Hartnett, a tall, strikingly beautiful blonde, as we were seated for the post-wedding meal. I asked her what she intended to do now that she had left her religious community. She told me that she would just continue doing what she had been doing. The only difference would be…
Excerpt #3 (p. 166)
The girl’s arrival date was perfect—or so we thought . . .
Our best-laid plans had to change when we received word the girls would be arriving at Kennedy International Airport in New York on the evening of July 16, 1981. We drove our Volkswagen Rabbit to John Hallinan’s …
About the Author
Ronald Al Rauckhorst
Ronald “Al” Rauckhorst was born on October 18, 1932 in Akron, Ohio where he grew up in a staunchly German Catholic family. After nine years of seminary training, Al served as a Maryknoll missionary priest in South Korea for ten years. After leaving Maryknoll and the priesthood he met and married Louise in 1971. Over the next 30 years Al worked as an adolescent counselor, family therapist, university academic advisor and tutor for elementary and high school students. In 1981 Al and Louise adopted two wonderful Korean daughters.
Book Reviews
Memoirs/autobiographies are supposed to be honest glimpses into a person's life. Often they fall short. However, this book doesn't disappoint. It deals with deep questions of one's faith, one's humanity. The author's journey to joy is not an easy path. He lays bare his struggle within the arbitrary boundaries imposed by convention, dogma, and social convention.View more
- Marunger
Congratulations on your excellent book. I found it inspirational and very much in line with my way of thinking and believing. I read the entire book in one night and would recommend it to anyone interested in the spiritual part of religion.View more
- Barbarta Murphy
Journey to joy is very interesting and thought provoking. View more
- Barbarta Murphy
Journey to Joy: From Spiritual Rigidity to Freedom Chronicles a Path to Personal Transformation
A laicized, married Catholic priest candidly shares his spiritual odyssey
Author Ronald “Al” Rauckhorst shares his remarkable journey of self-discovery and spiritual growth in his insightful memoir, Journey to Joy: From Spiritual Rigidity to Freedom. Through a candid account of his life as a Roman Catholic priest, husband, father, and spiritual seeker, Rauckhorst offers readers a compelling narrative…
