Kristin Gilger

Kristin Gilger is Emerita Professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Nebraska and is the co-author of “There’s No Crying in Newsrooms: What Women Have Learned About What it Takes to Lead.” Her second book, “My Son, The Priest: A Mother’s Crisis of Faith,” centers around her son's decision to become a Jesuit priest and, as a fallen away Catholic, her acceptance of his decision.

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Book:

My Son, the Priest

A Mother's Crisis of Faith
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Monkfish Book Publishing Company
November 2025
ISBN 9781958972939
266 pages

Not every Catholic mother wants her son to be a priest. The true story of a young man’s journey to become a Jesuit priest—written by his mother, a fallen-away Catholic who must come to terms with her son’s decision or risk losing him. It is an intimate, sometimes irreverent, and often searing examination of faith, family, and reconciliation. “You send your son off to college and you think that in a few years you might get a call, and he’ll announce that he has someone he’s bringing home, someone he wants you to meet. But then that someone turns out to be a recruiter hawking a lifetime of poverty, chastity and obedience. What college kid in his right mind would sign up for that?” The book offers a rare, often entertaining, glimpse into the highly unusual Jesuit formation process—which includes sending would-be priests off on pilgrimages with $35 in their pockets. It also takes on tough issues, from the church’s history of sexual abuse to its treatment of women, and asks tough questions: Is it possible to be Catholic, liberal, and a feminist all at the same time? What does it mean to call yourself a Catholic? More/less