Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson is a Christian mystic and hermit. He has been an inquisitive and determined spiritual seeker all his life, no doubt because he was a childhood victim of clergy sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic parish priest. Unfortunately, Jay did not realize this highly significant fact until Good Friday in 1992, the year after he had been ordained as a priest in the Church of Antioch, an Independent Catholic denomination.

As he recovered, Jay’s mission in life radically transformed. He became an outspoken advocate for survivors, leading the only group of victims to protest during Pope John Paul II’s visit to Denver for World Youth Day in 1993. Throughout the 1990s, Nelson used his background in writing and design for the Church of Antioch, being awarded with the rank of Monsignor. But he mainly devoted himself to clergy abuse issues, with publications, graphics, and the website for the Survivors of Clergy Abuse Linkup, the leading national advocacy group at that time.

With a background in literature and Church history, Jay deeply studied the Roman Catholic origins of clergy abuse. He put this knowledge into use in writing his exposé, "Sons of Perdition: New Mexico in the History of the Catholic Sex Scandals", as well as several unsung novels.

After formally retiring from the ministry, Jay received a miraculous spiritual liberation and healing while taking a shower one night in 2016. Since then he has immersed himself in studies of the Bible and the Early Church Fathers, resulting in another book. Unlike the first, "The Word Unveiled: A Spiritual Dictionary of Scripture is more positive", seeking to illuminate the hidden wisdom in Holy Writ.

A one-time professional artist as well, Jay works and waits in the desert with his cats, watching for signs in the heavens.