DVD

NO TURNING BACK: Confessions of a Catholic priest, by Fr D. Calloway

Reviewed by Fr Martin Durham

Contents - Mar 2008 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Man-made global warming: new religion? - Michael Gilchrist Tribute: B.A. Santamaria: ten years on - Cardinal George Pell News: The Church Around the World Man-made climate change: another great hoax? - Peter Finlayson Recovering the sacred in modern church architecture - Moyra Doorly 40 Years On: Vatican II at its mid-life crisis - Br Barry Coldrey Easter: The Sacred Triduum in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (1962 Missal) Crescat amor: What is the nature and purpose of theology? - Fr John O'Neill PP La Sapienza: Benedict XVI: the papacy and the university - Pope Benedict XVI Vocations: The priesthood: a special relationship with Christ - Fr Pat Stratford Vocations: Signs of hope in US diocese Letters: Christ's Church - Frank Mobbs Letters: Married clergy - Frank Bellet Letters: Canadian Lectionary - Matt Walton Letters: Language - Kevin McManus Letters: Liturgical abuses - Dennis Macdonald Letters: Response - Richard Stokes Letters: Homosexual 'marriage' - Arnold Jago Letters: Altar rails - Corinne O'Loughlin Letters: 'Re-ordered' churches - Brian Tooley Letters: Abortion laws - Robert Prinzen-Wood Letters: From India - Fr. A. Joseph Poetry: Time-Warp - Bruce Dawe Books: GOD AND CAESAR: Religion, Politics, and Society, by Cardinal George Pell - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: SEARCHING FOR AND MAINTAINING PEACE, by Father Jacques Philippe - Tim Cannon (reviewer) Books: JOURNEY OF A FAITH COMMUNITY, compiled by Tom Johnstone - James E. Scarlett (reviewer) DVD: NO TURNING BACK: Confessions of a Catholic priest, by Fr D. Calloway - Fr Martin Durham (reviewer) Books: Books available from AD2000 Books Reflection: Benedict XVI on Lent: 'authentic conversion to the love of Christ' - Pope Benedict XVI

NO TURNING BACK:
Confessions of a Catholic priest
by Fr D. Calloway
(DVD. Inquiries with Freedom Publishing)

St Augustine, please move to one side and make room beside you for Fr D. Calloway. Both of you are kindred souls - the stories of your conversions, by the grace of God, are so much alike.

If anyone could, humanly speaking, be described as a 'no-hoper', Donald Calloway would more than qualify. In California at the early age of 13 he began to embrace the 'MTV lifestyle' - sex, drugs, alcohol and pop- ular rock music.

His step-father, an officer in the US Navy, was transferred to Japan. There Donald's life escalated into one of crime. He even became involved with the Japanese Mafia.

While still a teenager, he was ignominiously expelled from Japan, returning to the US, shackled and guarded by two burly military police. The journey was marked by his foul mouth and violence.

He tells of his deepening addiction to drugs - marijuana, crack, heroin, cocaine and uppers and downers. He sought solace and a purpose in life by becoming a 'Grateful Dead' groupie. He still has a tattoo to remind him of that. He cared for no-one but himself. On one occasion he even told his mother that he 'hated her guts'.

God, however, was miraculously leading him and his family to convert to Catholicism. In God's eyes there are no 'no-hopers'.

For the rest of this fascinating story get hold of the DVD. I am not given to using superlatives lightly, but this DVD tells one of the most extraordinary and enthralling stories I have ever come across. Having watched it three times now, I can best describe it by borrowing one of Fr Calloway's favourite phrases - 'It blew me away!'

In short, it tells of the incredible journey of one who had once declared, 'I don't do church, man', to a final decision to become a priest.

Parents with teenagers, clergy, adult education providers, secondary school principals - you could do no better than use this wonderful, challenging DVD.

St Augustine wrote in his Confessions, 'You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts will never find rest until they rest in You.' Common sense agrees. Material things can never and will never fully satisfy the deep yearnings of a spiritual soul. Fr Calloway would no doubt call that a 'no brainer, man.'

Fr M. Durham is a retired Qld Catholic priest.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 21 No 2 (March 2008), p. 18