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"Celibate not only captures a personal history but plumbs the depths of the question, ‘To whom do we really belong’? I can't put too fine a point on just how stunning, expertly written, and life-giving
this memoir is."
Michelle Reale, Ovunque Siamo
"The meat of this work—Giura’s struggles with her relationship with God—is complex and emotionally wrought."
Publisher’s Weekly
"I was worried that Celibate would romanticize religion or be a salacious tell-all. Instead, it opened my heart and touched on many different aspects of the human spirit…with themes that readers, regardless of religious background, will relate to and find compelling. The most powerful writing on faith that I’ve encountered, Giura’s story shows that dark nights…are made easier by living radically true to one’s self and one’s desires."
Emily Webber, Mom Egg Review
More Reviews and Interviews Can Be Found at
Mom Egg Review, Rose City Reader, Ovunque Siamo,
National Catholic Reporter, Laura Smith's Books, Apprentice House Press.
When twenty-eight-year-old Maria Giura fell in love with Catholic priest Father James Infanzi, she had no idea how needy they both were nor how complicated their relationship would become. His attention seemed to fill the void left by her fractured family, but he also seemed to be a sign for her to finally face the vocation she’d been running from ever since she first felt God’s call. Celibate focuses on her ten-year struggle to let go of this priest, to heal from her childhood, and to finally embrace her true calling. Fiercely honest and tender, this memoir is ultimately a story about surrender, forgiveness, and facing one’s deepest needs.
Additional Praise for Celibate
“Captivating, daring, powerful.”
—Rita Ciresi, author of Sometimes I Dream in Italian
Maria Giura’s Celibate is an impassioned portrait of a self in utter struggle over, and ambivalence about God, family, sex, and love. Giura exquisitely draws the reader into the turbulence that was her life but also compels the reader to believe that now, finally, she is on the right path, that now she has reached her truth and peace. An exhilarating page turner.
— Kathleen McCormick, author of Dodging Satan
Deeply human and finely wrought, Celibate is Giura’s strikingly honest examination of her battle to hang onto her faith in the midst of trying to understand—and free herself from—her complex relationship with a Catholic priest.
— Michael Steinberg, author of Still Pitching: A Memoir
A beautifully rendered and heartfelt look at the place that contemporary women have in the Roman Catholic Church and one brave woman’s struggle to reconcile her faith in this context. — Leslie Heywood, author of Pretty Good for a Girl
Celibate tells a different kind of vocation story. Vivid and passionate, it speaks to both the afflictions and the victory that can come from discerning and following God’s voice. A gripping memoir from first to last page.
— Jana M. Bennett, author of Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life
In Celibate, priest, woman, and Church are tangled together in a romantic, forbidden web, and the boundaries between Church and society-at-large blur to the point of clear transparency. A poignant must read.
— Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Price: $17.99
ISBN: 978-1-62720-214-5
Subject: Memoir
Size: 5.25” x 8”, 282 pages
"Celibate not only captures a personal history but plumbs the depths of the question, ‘To whom do we really belong’? I can't put too fine a point on just how stunning, expertly written, and life-giving
this memoir is."
Michelle Reale, Ovunque Siamo
"The meat of this work—Giura’s struggles with her relationship with God—is complex and emotionally wrought."
Publisher’s Weekly
"I was worried that Celibate would romanticize religion or be a salacious tell-all. Instead, it opened my heart and touched on many different aspects of the human spirit…with themes that readers, regardless of religious background, will relate to and find compelling. The most powerful writing on faith that I’ve encountered, Giura’s story shows that dark nights…are made easier by living radically true to one’s self and one’s desires."
Emily Webber, Mom Egg Review
More Reviews and Interviews Can Be Found at
Mom Egg Review, Rose City Reader, Ovunque Siamo,
National Catholic Reporter, Laura Smith's Books, Apprentice House Press.
When twenty-eight-year-old Maria Giura fell in love with Catholic priest Father James Infanzi, she had no idea how needy they both were nor how complicated their relationship would become. His attention seemed to fill the void left by her fractured family, but he also seemed to be a sign for her to finally face the vocation she’d been running from ever since she first felt God’s call. Celibate focuses on her ten-year struggle to let go of this priest, to heal from her childhood, and to finally embrace her true calling. Fiercely honest and tender, this memoir is ultimately a story about surrender, forgiveness, and facing one’s deepest needs.
Additional Praise for Celibate
“Captivating, daring, powerful.”
—Rita Ciresi, author of Sometimes I Dream in Italian
Maria Giura’s Celibate is an impassioned portrait of a self in utter struggle over, and ambivalence about God, family, sex, and love. Giura exquisitely draws the reader into the turbulence that was her life but also compels the reader to believe that now, finally, she is on the right path, that now she has reached her truth and peace. An exhilarating page turner.
— Kathleen McCormick, author of Dodging Satan
Deeply human and finely wrought, Celibate is Giura’s strikingly honest examination of her battle to hang onto her faith in the midst of trying to understand—and free herself from—her complex relationship with a Catholic priest.
— Michael Steinberg, author of Still Pitching: A Memoir
A beautifully rendered and heartfelt look at the place that contemporary women have in the Roman Catholic Church and one brave woman’s struggle to reconcile her faith in this context. — Leslie Heywood, author of Pretty Good for a Girl
Celibate tells a different kind of vocation story. Vivid and passionate, it speaks to both the afflictions and the victory that can come from discerning and following God’s voice. A gripping memoir from first to last page.
— Jana M. Bennett, author of Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life
In Celibate, priest, woman, and Church are tangled together in a romantic, forbidden web, and the boundaries between Church and society-at-large blur to the point of clear transparency. A poignant must read.
— Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Price: $17.99
ISBN: 978-1-62720-214-5
Subject: Memoir
Size: 5.25” x 8”, 282 pages
