Disguised as a Man: Malachi Martin & Me is the title of the book I recently published on Smashwords. It's the true account of my nearly ten-year affair with the late Roman Catholic priest and cult figure, "Father" Malachi Martin.
Yes, Martin remained a priest after leaving the Jesuits and Rome in the 1960's because his affair with a journalist's wife had been exposed--but he didn't ever act much like a priest around me. He didn't even call himself "Father" in those days. I first saw him on TV as "Dr. Malachi Martin." He didn't revert to the clerical title until later.
Malachi had some priestly habits which he didn't bother to conceal and a couple of times went through some dubious ritual that was supposed to "dispel evil." But you can read about all that in my book, if you're interested.
I started the project years ago. It was meant to be a biography, for I did know Malachi intimately. But how does one go about writing a biography of a person who not only lies about things that really happened and invents things that never did? He was a compulsive confabulator and almost entirely amoral. Yet he was the most charming, brilliant person I've ever known. Martin's extraordinary intelligence and his undeniable charisma produced a character who seemed almost as fictitious as the stories he told.
My relationship with Malachi was not normal or healthy. He was fifty-seven when we finally met. I was nineteen. Neither of us had lived "normal, healthy" lives and our choices reflected that. I'm not sure that either of us really had a chance when it came to conventional behavior. As my narrative recounts, our romance was as misconceived as it was untenable. This is not a complaint. My life with Malachi was never easy, but it had its compensations and was never dull.
If you're interested in talking about Malachi Martin or any related subject, you may do so here. I don't purport to be an expert on his theories as he expounded them at the end of his life, but I did watch them evolve. It's my contention, however, that I spent the first decade of my adult life involved in a consuming love affair with one of the most plausible religious charlatans of recent times. I also maintain that all effective spiritual figures are artists who possess charisma. The best of them present a refracted, personal specimen of the truths they aspire to tell.
Yes, Martin remained a priest after leaving the Jesuits and Rome in the 1960's because his affair with a journalist's wife had been exposed--but he didn't ever act much like a priest around me. He didn't even call himself "Father" in those days. I first saw him on TV as "Dr. Malachi Martin." He didn't revert to the clerical title until later.
Malachi had some priestly habits which he didn't bother to conceal and a couple of times went through some dubious ritual that was supposed to "dispel evil." But you can read about all that in my book, if you're interested.
I started the project years ago. It was meant to be a biography, for I did know Malachi intimately. But how does one go about writing a biography of a person who not only lies about things that really happened and invents things that never did? He was a compulsive confabulator and almost entirely amoral. Yet he was the most charming, brilliant person I've ever known. Martin's extraordinary intelligence and his undeniable charisma produced a character who seemed almost as fictitious as the stories he told.
My relationship with Malachi was not normal or healthy. He was fifty-seven when we finally met. I was nineteen. Neither of us had lived "normal, healthy" lives and our choices reflected that. I'm not sure that either of us really had a chance when it came to conventional behavior. As my narrative recounts, our romance was as misconceived as it was untenable. This is not a complaint. My life with Malachi was never easy, but it had its compensations and was never dull.
If you're interested in talking about Malachi Martin or any related subject, you may do so here. I don't purport to be an expert on his theories as he expounded them at the end of his life, but I did watch them evolve. It's my contention, however, that I spent the first decade of my adult life involved in a consuming love affair with one of the most plausible religious charlatans of recent times. I also maintain that all effective spiritual figures are artists who possess charisma. The best of them present a refracted, personal specimen of the truths they aspire to tell.
