In the spring of 1955, motivated by idealism and buoyed by youthful naiveté, Thomas Brennan joined the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic religious order. After seven years in a cloistered environment of prayer, work and study he earned a degree in physics and taught for six years in high schools. After seven years in a cloistered environment of prayer, work and study he earned a degree in physics and taught for six years in high schools. Against the 1960s backdrop of assassinations, riots and civil rights marches added to the upheavals in the Catholic Church he reevaluated his commitment to a celibate life. Despite having pronounced final vows I petitioned and was granted a Vatican dispensation and joined the thousands of religious who withdrew from the religious life thus changing their own lives and the face of American Catholicism.