Are You Still a Priest?

In his forty-eight year career as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Father Gerald Kleba has served in a wide variety of missions as a hospital chaplain, retreat master, university professor, and primarily as a parish priest. In this capacity he has ministered mostly in economically depressed areas of inner-city communities. He has also served in a rural parish and sprawling new suburb. His ministry spans the excitement of Vatican II to the present with the stunning retirement of Pope Benedict XVI and the surprising election of Francis as Bishop of Rome.

"Are You Still A Priest?" recounts the life of a priest rooted in Jesus and ahead of his time in the 21st century church. Father Kleba embodied Pope Francis long before Jorge Bergoglio, S.J. was Pope Francis. If the Nuns on the Bus had longed for a caravan, Father Kleba would have organized the Priests on the Bus. While he was actively living the gospel of social justice, he was also ministering to fifteen children whose stories are told here. One child died in his presence. "Are You Still A Priest?" tells a pastor's story of sensible and saintly approaches to address the issues of our time in the church and the world healing both personal relationships and wounded Mother Earth.