Where Did All the Young Men Go?

The 1960s: a time of social change and major events that marked Australia on many levels: Vietnam, anti-war protests; the Pill, hippies, the surf culture; mini-skirts, the Beatles; and the beginnings of the Indigenous movement. However, much of this was not part of the world of an elite group of young Australian males. In Where Did All the Young Men Go? University psychology lecturer Dr Paul Casey brings together the life stories of a cohort of twenty-three men, now all aged over seventy, who in the 1960s lived together apart from the world in seminaries for student priests. There they tested their desire and suitability to be ordained. Some returned to the world from the seminary, some after ordination, and a few are still in the priesthood today. The writers, all highly educated, give selections from and reflections on their personal histories before, during, and after their seminary days and discuss key themes associated with a rapidly changing world. It is a book of stories about childhood, manhood, and life, set in the context of twentieth century Australian Catholic Church history, told by men who in their youth strove for the goal of Catholic priesthood.