“I realized I needed to think about how to leave priesthood—if it was even possible.” — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“After all, eighteen years of my life had been geared toward priesthood.” — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“(My trust-in-God issues were about accepting who he created me to be, not about hiding in the priesthood.)” — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“I was gay because I didn’t know if it would jeopardize my plans for priesthood and nobody wanted an out-of-the-closet gay priest… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“Though I wholeheartedly supported celibacy at the start of my seminary career, my opinion changed as I made my way toward and… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“She could not handle telling people I had left priesthood, that I was gay, and she refused to use words associated with… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“At that point in time, the need to be myself had become a competing desire with my priesthood, but I didn’t quite… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“As the trimester wound to a close with no apparent success, our spiritual directors laid down the law and told us we… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“In November of 2010, one-and-a-half years after stepping away from ministry, I contacted the bishop and requested that we begin the laicization… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“I quickly realized I had backed myself into a corner with no knowledge or information about how to do something different. My… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“I like to think I had an out-of-body experience, but really I imagined myself being an outsider who observed the dinner conversation… — Charles Benedict Copy Share Image
“Am I really going to hell for being gay?” Or, “I think I was born a woman in a man’s body. Does that make… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“When we reconnected, he was there to guide me as I navigated the uncharted waters of dating” — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“Could I survive in the world as an ex-priest that no one wanted anything to do with?” — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“As a teenager, his teachers recognized his academic prowess and brilliant intelligence. They suggested he move into monastic life in order to further his… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“She could not handle telling people I had left priesthood, that I was gay, and she refused to use words associated with my sexuality.… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“I found the courage to admit I was gay. This is when I said the words in my head and said them out loud… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“They were astute enough to know that I needed someone to share my life with…and they were right.” — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“The particular rectory I moved in to was attached to the church. This was arguably one of the worst setups possible because living above… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“We did, however, deliver and expel many homosexual and sodomitic demons from my body, mind, heart, mouth, soul, penis, and anus.” — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“Every so often, Zach would say things like, “I like you,” or, “We think a lot alike.” I naively agreed with him because even… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“From that moment on, I never had another heated argument or conversation about my sexuality because my mother could not understand how anyone could… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“Though I wholeheartedly supported celibacy at the start of my seminary career, my opinion changed as I made my way toward and through priesthood.” — Charles Benedict Copy Share
“I am not meant to be alone in life, and that the type of committed, indissoluble partnership in which I am engaged presently is… — Charles Benedict Copy Share
