There is of course no real way to know what someone else's motivation is, but I would imagine most of the boys who entered seminary then had more of a calling than Holland. There would be various degrees of calling involved. Some would have been there because their mother badly wanted a priest in the family - adorning her resume for the next life. Many other would be there because there was a tradition of a priest in the family and he was the designee. Some others because they'd always had a bent towards being celibate or at least not married to a woman. And then there were those who were genuine seekers after a higher spiritual meaning in their lives.
Jack Holland and perhaps his friend Jerry had found seminary as a refuge from one thing or another on the outside and were determined to make as good a job of being priest as they would have of being a teacher or a doctor.
Not terribly spiritual admittedly but fairly typical of the attitude of most priest of that time. They regarded it as a profession, took the job seriously, worked pretty hard, played a bit of golf with their friends and said their prayers fairly regularly.
Much of this changed in the 1960's with the societal upheavals of Vietnam War protests, Free Speech protests, Civil Rights protests. Within the Catholic church the Vatican Council had stirred up hopes of reform that loosed young priests and nuns from more traditional confines. Thus freed-up they often took freedom the outer edge of acceptable conduct and beyond. (More of this in A Priest in Graduate School - next blog).
Jack Holland and perhaps his friend Jerry had found seminary as a refuge from one thing or another on the outside and were determined to make as good a job of being priest as they would have of being a teacher or a doctor.
Not terribly spiritual admittedly but fairly typical of the attitude of most priest of that time. They regarded it as a profession, took the job seriously, worked pretty hard, played a bit of golf with their friends and said their prayers fairly regularly.
Much of this changed in the 1960's with the societal upheavals of Vietnam War protests, Free Speech protests, Civil Rights protests. Within the Catholic church the Vatican Council had stirred up hopes of reform that loosed young priests and nuns from more traditional confines. Thus freed-up they often took freedom the outer edge of acceptable conduct and beyond. (More of this in A Priest in Graduate School - next blog).
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