The main author of "Journey to Joy: From Spiritual Rigidity to Freedom", 2nd ed. is Ronald (Al) Rauckhorst. Louise Rauckhorst, his wife, added my contributions to this 2nd edition. This book is Ronald's spiritual autobiography and tells how he was born into a staunchly religious family of Gernan descent in 1932 and grew up to be a judgmental, black and white thinker, very concerned about sin and the possibility of going to Hell. This mindset impelled him to study for the priesthood and after ordination to spend 10 years as a Maryknoll missionary priest in South Korea in the 1960s. During this time Vatican Council II issued documents that brought about radical changes in how the Roman Catholic Church should view itself, practice its liturgies, and relate to the modern world. These teachings shook Ronald's long-held and unquestioned beliefs to the core and this eventually led to him resigning from the priesthood in 1970 and starting to make his way as a lay person in the secular world,. In early 1971 he met me, Louise Hartnett, when I had just left the religious community of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul a month earlier. We hit it off right away, despite my combining all three of his supposed "No-Nos"--he didn't want to marry a nurse , or teacher, or ex-nun because he thought they were all too bossy! We married 6 and 1/2 months later. His book writes about our adopting two Korean girls in 1981, the challenges and joys of this instant parenthood and the girls growing up to be women we've been so proud of. I felt impelled to have this 2nd edition published so I could share some of my own perspectives on our 50 years of marriage, especially regarding how his/our "Journey to Joy" continued to evolve during his retirement years until his passing in 2022. Read more about this authorRead less about this author