Kairos

In a series of letters to a friend with whom he graduated from divinity school in 1984, Sherwood recounts his struggle to retain his identity ""as a gay man'' while becoming an Episcopal priest. Call it courageous or naive, Sherwood's position is that all should know about and respect his sexual preference regardless of church teachings on the subject of clerical sexuality. Thus, within a year of joining a particularly conservative North Carolina church, he ``comes out'' in a national journal and tells bishop, rector and anyone who asks that he is gay. He is shocked at his superiors' disapproving reaction and blames ``gay priests who choose to remain closeted.'' All in all, it is difficult to take Sherwood seriously, especially when he writes that his ``sexuality is a gift from God, who calls me into relationshipstet singular with other men,'' or when he lightly tosses off gay friends' criticism of him for being promiscuous in the AIDS era, or when he tells his friend Stephen that he became ordained only because Stephen wanted him to. An unsatisfying curiosity. (April)