Expulsed Catholic priest praises
Much Ado About Corona

Blazing Reader,

Dr. Seán Ó'Laoire holds a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology and is a licensed Clinical Psychologist. He was also an ordained Catholic priest serving in Kenya until the Holy See expelled him for not seeing eye-to-eye on certain dogmas of the church.

He's also the author of Setting God Free, Spirits in Spacesuits, Souls on Safari and other books that probably didn't help his case with the Vatican.

Father Seán recently read Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story. Here's what he had to say:

I've just finished reading your wonderful novel. I am filled with admiration for your great gifts:

1. You are a master storyteller

2. You have a great ability to develop your characters - even Constable Corona got to show his soul as well as his pathology

3. You wove English, French, Italian, German and Ojibwa seamlessly into the dialogue

4. Your turn of phrase and use of language is beautiful

5. Your courage to stand up and be counted is admirable and much needed in our times - [your son] Jonah shares this gift with you!

6. Even with such a serious topic, you flavoured it with lots of humour.

7. And, finally, you left me shouting, "When are we going to see Book II?"

That was such an honour, coming from Father Seán. I'm not sure if I'm a master storyteller, but I'm a persistent wordsmith. I just kept hammering away at the manuscript every day for two years until I was satisfied.

Case in point, Constable Corona’s "pathology" (as Father Seán puts it) involved rewriting the character three times. I figuratively brought him to a psychologist at one point. My neighbour was Dr. Éva Székely, a retired clinical psychologist from Toronto. After she beta-read the novel, we spent a long session with Constable Corona on the couch, so to speak, dissecting his character.

Including English, French, Italian, German and Ojibwa was quite a linguistic challenge for me (as I’m only somewhat fluent in Spanish). It has also made narrating the audiobook version a mammoth undertaking as I try to master the German ü and French u. But after more than a year of practice, I can sing several verses of Schubert in German.

The audiobook also necessitated learning how to imitate Father Seán's wonderful Irish accent for the character of Carol McKnight (the protagonist’s Dublin-born mother). I sent Father Seán this video of me practising.

“You're hilarious!” he emailed back. “Not only have you an Irish accent, you have a Donegal Irish accent!"

Yes, Donegal. That was my intention all along.

If you're curious to find out why the Vatican gave this Irish priest the boot, you can head over to Father Seán's website, SpiritsInSpacesuits.com to hear his renegade homilies (sermons) or purchase any of his "heretical" books (I'm currently reading Setting God Free: Moving Beyond the Caricature We've Created in Our Own Image).

And, of course, if you haven't read Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, find out why Father Sean and so many others are praising the story, by ordering yourself a copy (along with some extras as Christmas gifts).

—John C.A. Manley

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