‘Faith Memoir’ readings, signings at Masonic Hall from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays
PRESS RELEASE
RICK PRASHAW
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OTTAWA — Rick Prashaw, former priest of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Mary posted Father Rick, itinerant Catholic, his memoir of “twisted, straight” faith from years of ministry, then proud dad of trans son. His narration mixes joy, mischief and biting commentary on the troubles of the Catholic Church and other religions.
After stops in Espanola on June 22 and Sault Ste. Marie on June 23, Prashaw lands in Elliot Lake and Masonic Hall on Saturday, June 25, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Those who can’t attend can still drop by early after 1 p.m. for a signed book.
“Some friends’ eyes blur at the mention of faith,” laughs Prashaw, a priest from 1980 to 1991 in North Bay, Sudbury, Garden River and Batchawana Bay, as well as studies in Rome.
“Then they dive into the stories, enjoying irreverence, miracles, good works and good people like Father Brian McKee, Father Don MacLellan and Greg Humbert, alongside sobering commentary.”
“Father Rick, Itinerant Catholic is an eye-opening memoir that sheds light on the faith, religion, and little-known life of priests,” reads the back cover of the book. “My faith was now more wandering than Roman Catholic, a greater God than any catechism taught me. Be who we are. Love who we love. A believer, ever standing.
Prashaw’s intriguing memoir keeps all Catholics in mind – devout, observant, conservative, liberal, lapsed, recovering, cultural, etc. corporate agendas around God.
There are also unflinching critiques of clergy abuse, residential schools, and what Prashaw calls religion’s misjudgment of LGBTQ people and submissive, second-class citizenship for women.
To make a 70-year-old story contemporary, Prashaw used a COVID-19 isolation after a writing trip to Mexico to tell his journey of faith in the book to a niece. This storytelling technique has allowed him to address hot topics like the pandemic, papal apologies for residential schools, Black Lives Matter issues, declining religious affiliation and church attendance, and the polarized “uncivil wars” of Joe Biden-Donald Trump.
Prashaw is thrilled to return to Elliot Lake where in 2019 he hosted a busy reading for his debut memoir, Fly away, Adam, fly away (Dundurn Press). The cover of Father Rick, Itinerant Catholic (Friesen Press, February 2022) is a photo of him playing priest as a child. He will have books for sale and autographs. The book is also available or can be ordered in paperback, hardcover and e-book editions from indie, Indigo, Coles, Amazon and the Friesen bookstore, Press.
For more information: contact Rick Prashaw, soaradamsoar@gmail.com
“Are there times in the hectic chaos of life when you stop and wonder what happened to your faith, your community, and the Church that seems so determined to break your heart? Rick Prashaw guides us through hardship and toward hope, toward a great God and our work for justice, beginning with true reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.” – Charlie Angus, MP, Author, Musician
The next Frank McCourt! Rick Prashaw is one of the most engaging, passionate and entertaining writers we’ve seen in this millennium!” – Teresa de Grosbois, #1 International Bestselling Author Mass Influence – Habits of Highly Influential People
Rick’s book is a testament to hope in its assertion that faith can sustain life’s most tumultuous offerings. His writings are about the fundamental belief that there is room for everyone’s story, without judgment or exclusion; it is a trustworthy light that carries us forward. »Joan Grundy, author, A life that deepens
fast, full of humor, irreverence and deep humanity. Rick has a big heart, drawn to broken places in search of wholeness. He learned and honed the ability to bring together so many things that might naturally separate us. – Sister Margo Ritchie, Congregation Leader, Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada
Your writing invited me to read on, not polarized but your honest and sincere goal to understand and appreciate the complexities of a system that allowed such trauma to occur in the lives of children and adolescents , the negative impact on the faithful and the distrust of the institution that publicly professed Gospel values. – Father Sam Restivo, Congregation of the Resurrection, chaplain, counselor
Rick Prashaw has offered us a memoir that insightfully chronicles his life encounter and engagement with Roman Catholicism, at the intersection of faith and politics,… At a time when religion is primarily characterized in the media as a a conservative force, it is necessary to point out that there are progressive faith-based perspectives on issues that are too often treated as if there were only a debate between faith and non-faith. Issues of peace and war, economy and environment are also moral issues that can be enlightened by faith..” Bill Blaikie, former MP, MPP, United Church minister
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