"August 18, 1959. A Tuesday - and how fast it was approaching. August 18, the day of the great First Step, the day when David Thomas Morley would leave his home to enter a Religious Order and to become a teaching Brother. It seemed a perfectly good idea back in the month of April, but now the date of departure was approaching a little too fast."

 

David's path through the Christian Brothers' regime is told here in intricate details, from Juniorate through to the Leaving Cert year to Teacher Training, and from there to work "on the mission". Major decision-making points are encountered, culminating in the final and most traumatic decision of all, that being whether or not to leave the Brothers' Congregation. His sense of entrapment by an inflexible and literal understanding of vocation, the answering of God's call, is illustrated, just as the author experienced it himself during his own journey with the Christian Brothers. This unique story also describes a type of training which has long since passed out of use, and has become, for many, a piece of history in itself. In detailing his experiences, the author creates a character who illustrated the dilemmas and challenges faced by a great number of people, and which relfect many of the challenges and difficulties that have shaped the Ireland of today.