Collar

Collar is a novel, the story of an Episcopal priest, the Rev. Kit Whitney, Jr. told with humor, intense drama, great joy and bitter pain, Kit tells his story from the early 1930s to 1981.



Kit forms and directs the University band. Joins a fraternity. At seminary someone asks, "Is that your sporty red Chrysler?" Loads bags for a major airline. Kit ministers to victims of devastating Hurricane Audrey in Louisiana. Becomes a pilot. Stars in a play. Falls in love with Scarlet, marries and has three children. Is nominated for bishop. Travels. Celebrates the first Jazz Mass, Mariachi Mass, Polo Bass. Enjoyed immense happiness in serving six thriving Episcopal churches in Louisiana and Texas.



Why would a priest, rector of one of the country's largest Episcopal churches, retire so soon? What happened?



Three scenarios answer the question.



(1) As the son of a prominent dentist, Kit is able to travel with his wife and children, entertain and enjoy an adventurous lifestyle which disturbed those demanding a more modest way of living.

(2) The demand by some church members to exercise absolute control is dangerously disruptive. Kit believes that people can find in the local church a way to reach the top, to be "alpha dog", in order to control. Their great fear is displacement.

(3) Membership in the Episcopal Church rises to a peak in 1965, then plummets by the year 2000. Kit compares the crash to the Titanic's hitting an iceberg.



Collar is a lot of fun and upholds Kit Whitney's unalterable belief in Christianity, saddened by those who cannot accept success. He recalls a woman who rather than applaud the youth ministry, following another event-filled gathering of hundreds of teens at the church, calls and complains, "There was mustard on the kitchen floor. Again."



"Like a mighty army moves the Church of God."