Video Interview Here! Part 2 here!
During the fight to legalize gay marriage in Massachusetts, I set out on a Quixotic quest: to stalk Cardinal Sean O'Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston, with the vague idea that I might convert him from foe to friend if only he would agree to speak to me. Confession tells the story of the crazy Catholic kookery I found -- and whatever germs of wisdom and humor I derived from it.
A lighthearted memoir . . . Pomfret elucidates the eventual resolution of his spiritual crises with considerable integrity and manages to present sympathetic portraits of clergy, biting satires of church practices, and a nuanced rendering of a church and congregation considering its role in a changing world. . . . Unfailingly lively.
--Publishers' Weekly (May 5, 2008).
Achingly funny and very readable . . . Unlike what you've come to expect from memoirs, this is no navel-gazing attempt to explain why Pomfret is the way he is. Instead, this memoir attempts to explain why it is that Catholicism is the way it is and why it can’t seem to wrap its brotherly-loving arms around gay men and lesbians and welcome them to the fold.
-- New England Blade
-- Bay Windows
-- Book Marks
Pomfret is a funny guy, who interweaves his own experiences with the Church's historical background and its usual responses, illustrating a full gamut of crazy. . . . You’ll be amused by Pomfret’s irreverence, which begins with the first page. . . . When it comes to the pedophilia scandal, Pomfret is unmerciful. On that point, his anger outshines his usual humorous take, and rightly so.
--QT Magazine
One day historians will have a go at understanding how gay Catholics stood up for the deepest truths of the Catholic faith against a hierarchy who were opportunistically wedded to a reactionary modern ideology, and how they eventually wore the hierarchy back into belonging to the Church. If those historians don't pick up on the extraordinary mixture of sheer love, tender-heartedness, cussedness and hilarity which Since My Last Confession delivers in spades, then they will have quite failed to 'get it.'
A satiric, humorous, and, ultimately, personal memoir.
Call it heretical or sacrilegious, but one thing's for certain: Scott Pomfret will make you laugh, especially if you’re a recovering Catholic with a sense of humor, a writer or if you’re fascinated by sexual politics. . . . It’s enough conflict to take up an entire library, but Pomfret tempers it with so much grace, humor, and perspective, that it’s actually kind of touching. With characters with names like Father McSlutty and Father Bear-Daddy, it’s bound to be good.
With a wicked sense of humor . . . Pomfret mines his religion for all that it's worth. And, as any semi-practicing Catholic can attest, there’s plenty of material. . . . Of course, there are many serious moments, too.
A light-hearted memoir . . . Readers searching for answers to questions such as, "How to get excommunicated in seven easy steps," “How to recognize a gay Catholic when you see one,” or even just “Why I can't leave these pinheaded Catholic patriarchs alone,” will more than enjoy this book—we swear.
-- Boston Spirit
Pomfret has achieved the rare feat of tempering his pride and faith with a level of humor and open-mindedness that is refreshing. Since My Last Confession is a hysterically funny account of Pomfret's experience in the Church, chock full of eccentric characters and a pull-no-punches attitude.
This hilarious and heartbreaking book . . . takes on a wide spectrum of the gay Catholic experience with humor and wit. . . . Pomfret shares his personal struggles as well as his method of survival: laughter, He doesn't attempt to bash Catholicism. He doesn’t try to persuade LGBT folks to stay in the Catholic Church, either. His overall mission—besides making people giggle—is to encourage readers to embrace their gay spirituality. The result is a book that people of any faith—or lack thereof—can enjoy.
-- Windy City Times
A witheringly funny, searingly honest look at one man's struggle to be true both to his faith and himself.
-- Raleigh-Durham News and Observer
Hovering somewhere between a heartbreaking cry of pain and a delicious howl of laughter Scott Pomfret’s 'Since My Last Confession' is a complete delight. Trying to make sense of the insane, hypocritical, and murderously ironic stances the Catholic Church takes – often articulated by gay, sexually active, priests – this not-quite apostate catholic does his best to claim and articulate a reasonable, rational, and truly religious relationship to the church. In short: Pomfret isn’t a 'recovering Catholic' – it’s the benighted men who have so sadly mismanaged the Roman Catholic church who are going to have to recover from this funny, heartfelt, and insightful memoir.
-- Michael A. Bronski, Professor, Dartmouth College
Author of "Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps"
Scott Pomfret is the patron saint of devilish wit. With unabashed introspection that borders on the sacrilegious, Since My Last Confession artfully demonstrates a heartfelt faith in God and humanity that, frankly, the world could use a lot more of.
-- Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Author of "I Am Not Myself These Days"
