"I realize this is a very open-ended question, but why did your decision set off your brother so badly? And what was his position here in the church, if he had one?"
"I'll try to be brief, though as you'll see, I could write a book about my brother. In fact, I've even thought about doing exactly that.
"My brother is about ten years younger than I am. There were two sisters in between. At first, like most healthy young boys, he hated going to church. The dressing up, the sitting still, the whole thing. But then, as he got older, and as I started to realize that I wanted to enter the priesthood, he began to be really interested." He smiled for a moment. "As his friends were getting into various scrapes, he was always the one there to chide them."
"He became fixed on the idea that he would become a priest also, and it was fairly obvious that he thought he'd be a much better priest than I would ever be. Much more devout, much more pious. I never argued with him about it, but I always thought he was a bit too much... Well, let me not digress into things which probably wouldn't interest you."
"It sounds as if he lacked humility, which could be relevant."
"He did, but he also lacked intellectual rigor. Piousness without study and contemplation – and introspection – is not the way to become a priest, at least in my opinion.
"Anyway, he was rejected by the seminary, and... He didn't take it well. I don't believe it had ever occurred to him as a possibility."
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