Processo de desvinculação social do sacerdote católico reformado da atividade ministerial ordinária no México

The interest in documenting what happens to various populations in retirement has given way to consider little explored groups such as priests; related retirement studies take up transcendental elements such as economics, coping strategies and inclusion in new activities. The aim of this paper was to describe the social disengagement process of a group of retired Catholic priests. The research was descriptive with a phenomenological orientation, seeking to understand the changes perceived upon retirement as well as the meanings given to the experience through an interview whose guiding question was: what changes do you recognise you have experienced since retiring from your priestly activities? The results describe the experience of withdrawal systematised in three moments: beginning of disengagement, maintenance of disengagement and total disengagement, where it is evident that this occurs gradually and is linked to the condition of health and segregation from social and priestly activities. It is concluded that disengagement is a process related to the severance of ties and coping methods, both of which provide insight into the social aspects of self-perceived ageing in retirement.