Brian Harper knows from personal experience how curious people are about priests and nuns.
He began training to be a priest 20 years ago, straight from school, and although he left after two years he has never quite escaped the legacy. Whenever he tells people about that period in his life they fire him with questions about what prompted him to consider that route in the first place.
There are the usual questions about coping with celibacy and the restrictions that this puts on personal relationships. But there is real curiosity, too, about why an "otherwise normal" person would take on such a life.
"There is a genuine interest in the whole area of spirituality and the spiritual life," Harper says, "The contrast has never been greater than it is now between the religious and secular paths. " Many young people head for a life in the church, he says, after attending Catholic schools where the emphasis is placed on religious observance, ritual and the importance of obedience and personal humility. But in today's world it is becoming increasingly difficult for such young people to ignore what is happening in the secular world behind the church. Many priests and nuns have left the safety of the ordered religious life in the past couple of decades. But they have not done so without a struggle. Harper can identify with the experience of those who leave.
"It is so much easier to join up than it is to quit," he says, "It's like in personal relationships, they're easy enough to get into, but extricating yourself from one that's not working or that you're not happy with can be very difficult indeed. "
Steven Mc Callanan, a parish priest, is frank about his life in church. He sums it up: "If you are prepared to see life in all its color then go ahead, take orders. But don't think it will be easy. I face problems every day. "
Harper believes the religious life attracts a true cross-section of people, from the extrovert to the shy and retiring, although many are drawn by the church's emphasis on ritual and performance. If one were to generalize, though, most priests have the kind of artistic temperaments that would "I know some brilliant men and women in the church, then I know some tried and disillusioned ones and some who are struggling with their own kind of personal demons," says Harper. He says it is a shame that the Catholic community has traditionally put priests on a pedestal, "up there with God", whereas in fact they are just like everyone else: flawed and vulnerable, make them good actors or performance poets-and social drinkers.
"Being a priest just happens to be a career, admittedly a specialized one and one that demands a certain range of qualities. But priests are just as frail and weak as the rest of us."
Harper has made a television programme about priests, monks and nuns in the Catholic Church. The message he gave to those who took part in his documentary was: "We are not trying to trip you up or make you appear strange or foolish. We are just trying to answer what we think are some generally asked questions about your attitudes, your dilemmas, and the kinds of lives you lead. "It makes fascinating viewing.
People are always curious about ______.
A．why a person would like to be priest
B．who would like to be priests
C．what is inside a church
D．what education priests may get
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