The Eye of the Spiral

About the Book

Among the social issues that divide modern society, the conflict between Christian doctrine and gay lifestyle is arguably the most debated yet most difficult to reconcile. The Eye of the Spiral records the struggle of a man caught in the middle. The Reverend John B. Fowler is both a Catholic priest and a psychiatrist. As a minister he should condemn homosexuality as a sin, but as a psychiatrist he must consider it an alternative lifestyle. He tries to keep the two activities separate but fails. A part-time employ in the newly created Holy Congregation for the Dialogue with the Gay Minority of Christian Faith, he has to contend with forces that are far beyond his control: on one front a clandestine organization of ultraconservative cardinals, called Agnus Dei, that is opposed to any dialogue with gays, and on the other the entire gay community, which in in-your-face fashion dares to celebrate their “roots” (the legend of Crispino) and lifestyle with a Fallorama Festival that is as spectacular as it is scandalous, very near the site where Peter asked the Lord, “Domine, quo vadis?” The two views continue to coexist in an unstable detente until the murder of a prominent psychiatrist and shortly after that of a gay young man in the priest’s care (followed by a series of events that climax with the priest discovering of the culprit) drive Rev. Fowler to the brink of clinical depression. For his own sanity it becomes imperative that he reconcile the two splinters of his persona. Unfortunately, the dilemma is so intractable that all he does is waver now toward one view, not toward the other, unable to make up his mind. Such ambivalence reflects the spiritual confusion of a changing world. Like the Prince of Salina in The Leopard, Rev. Fowler belongs to an unfortunate generation, swung between the old world and the new, and finds himself ill at ease in both. Eclectic by nature, the priest admires doctrines condemned by the Church, like pantheism, and even allows for the possibility of more than one Revelation. His faith should guide him. Ironically, it is his ministry that prevents him from taking a stand. As it consists mainly of administrative work, which he hates, Rev. Fowler sees his counseling of gays as the only shred of pastoral work left to him. He cannot renounce it.

About the Author

Susan M. Hartl was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955 and educated at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she obtained a BS in Political Science and Broad Field Social Studies (Psychology, Sociology, and History), and later an MS in Curriculum and Instruction in Reading, graduating with distinction. Her professional experience was vast, ranging from teaching to working as aid to legislator in the senate and, for three years, as a laboratory assistant in the Department of Parasitology at the University of Wisconsin. Throughout her career as a student, she received distinction as a member of the National Honor Society and being on the dean’s list. The list of her teaching credentials is as impressive: she taught political science, social studies, reading (K-12), supervision (K-12), and natural Science and became an elementary and high school principal.. She died on February 20, 1999, a victim of breast cancer.