Official Review: Online Book Club

Four out of four stars – Reviewed by Laura Lee (partial review)

My Mosaic: Discovering Each Spiritual Piece One at a Time, Dr. William E. Ward 

The American essayist  and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, once observed, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to their grave with the song still in them”. My Mosaic – Discovering Each Spiritual Piece One at a Time, recounts Dr. William E. Ward’s journey from the desperation of a childhood filled with horrific abuse, through the process of healing, to the final emergence of the song that was within him all along. Ward is, quite frankly, the most self-aware individual I have ever encountered.

 

 

Kirkus Review for “My Mosaic – Discovering Each Spiritual Piece One at a Time” (excerpt) “A writer reflects on the solace he sought in seminary life from childhood trauma, and the ways in which the Roman Catholic Church failed him. In elegant and often stirring prose, intellectually thoughtful but always accessible, the author argues for a more personal understanding of spiritual life, short of inelastic doctrinal commitments and the demand for blind obedience to clerical officials. A poignantly candid memoir artfully combined with a rigorous critique of institutional religion.”

Writer’s Digest review for “My Mosaic – Discovering Each Spiritual Piece One at a Time” The book “is a reflection of the experience I suspect many people face when grappling with the identity of God. After a difficult childhood, Dr. Ward decides to become a priest. During his time in the seminary, he becomes disillusioned with the Catholic faith and some of the realities of the priesthood. Some may be shocked by his experiences; others will not be surprised. In Part 2, the reader learns of his journey to find a different type of spirituality, drawing upon many different teachers. Considering the author’s experiences, this is not an astonishing development. The author clearly has the heart of the people. This is an interesting memoir that might help readers make sense of where a part of the population stands on religion today.”

My Mosaic: Discovering Each Spiritual Piece One at a Time by Dr. William E. Ward Fact: Thousands of people exist in a spiritual vacuum once they left formal religion. The above fact encouraged me to share my spiritual and psychological growth in a memoir.It is my belief, supported my numerous studies, that a vast number of people have drifted from a sense of spirituality due, in many cases, to their experience with formal religion.Through a memoir genre, I reveal I am an example of that truth. I want the reader to share in my growth from the rigidity of formal religion to a new and more vibrant sense of what spirituality means. Rather than being confined by these institutions and left in a spiritual vacuum, we can celebrate the joy that the Kingdom of God is within us all.