DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Eric Gorski and Alicia Caldwell
Denver Post Staff Writers
On June 4, 1960, Harold Robert White lay flat on his chest on the cold floor of Denver's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, offering his life to God and church.
He and two other graduates of St. Thom as Seminary were about to be ordained as Catholic priests after eight years of study, and part of the ordination Mass involved lying prostrate to show humility and recognize God's greatness.
White was a 27-year-old man of solid middle-class stock who tinkered with cars and double-dated in high school. An unremarkable student as a seminarian, White was dean of his class, well-liked and obedient to superiors.
But he was entering the priesthood in a time of change: The sexual revolution was about to shock cultural norms, and the Second Vatican Council would break down traditional barriers between priests and lay people. The tumultuous times helped shape White's priesthood.