Clergy--Religious Life, Catholic Church, Priests, priesthood -- Catholic Church, Christian Life, Priesthood 

Novels multiply in which laymen show you the thoughts, emotions, failings, and temptations that they conceive a priest must have. Some are brilliant, some are muddy, but all are written from the outside. In Vessel of Clay, possibly for the first time, a priest does the same thing: and he does it, not about other priests, but about himself. Father Trese takes us with him through his day, from waking to bedtime, thinking aloud, really thinking aloud, as though he had forgotten we were there. When one has read to the end, some of the most brilliant fictional studies of priests look a bit fictional.

Father Leo Trese is the pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Carleton, Michigan. He was born in Port Huron, Michigan and studied at Assumption College, the University of Detroit and Mt. St. Mary Seminary, Cincinnati. He is one of the national directors of the Catholic Rural Life Conference. His articles have appeared in many Catholic magazines, including "Commonweal," "Emmanuel" and "The Catholic Boy," but this is his first book.

Taken from the inside flaps.