Gone are the days when a large presbytery was home to as many as five priests and a housekeeper. Today, a parish priest will more likely live alone and, particularly in rural areas, be responsible singlehandedly for two or more parishes. The falling number of priests in most dioceses risks leaving them overburdened by work and without the time to develop supportive networks of friends.The death of Fr Joseph Williams, found after three days in his car in a supermarket car park at Houghton Regis, near Luton, just a few days after Christmas, reinforces this image. But is it accurate? I asked a number of priests about their experience of loneliness and gleaned a variety of responses. Those most likely to feel isolated tended to be at the older end of the spectrum, while those training men for