Priestdaddy: A Memoir

Patricia Lockwood's memoir chronicles her relationship with her father, Father Greg Lockwood, a Catholic priest who defies stereotypes—he wears boxer shorts, watches action movies, and plays guitar loudly. When an unexpected crisis forces Lockwood and her husband to move back into her parents' rectory after a decade of independence, their worlds collide. The book weaves together formative moments from Lockwood's childhood and adolescence—including a failed family hunting trip, her father's arrest at an abortion clinic sit-in, and her participation in a cultlike Catholic youth group—with accounts of eight months living in her parents' household. Lockwood describes educating a seminarian also residing at the rectory, attempting to explain Catholicism to her bewildered husband, and navigating her relationship with her mother. Moving between humor and gravity, the memoir explores belief, belonging, and identity while examining how Lockwood balances her hard-won sense of self against family obligations and religious tradition.