TGIF! Time for us laymen and women to indulge in fantasy! Let’s say you were going to be a priest. (It’s OK, ladies, you can play along here, no foul.) Let’s say further that you were going to “enlist” in an order. Which one would you choose? Augustinian, Franciscan, Dominican, Jesuit? Benedictine, Carmelite, Cistercian? Or would you opt for what Frank calls “hard corps”—the Carthusians?I’ll put my two cents in the offering plate and then leave it to readers to vote (poll at right) and comment (below).
In the days when I used to walk down Haight Street (or the local equivalent) humming Donovan’s “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” there would have been no hesitation: Franciscan! What young hippie idealist wouldn’t want to wander around in sackcloth, kissing lepers and sleeping on rocks?
Not now, not at my age!
There was a time I thought I might like to be a serious monastic, and what’s more serious than the Carthusians? But then I read An Infinity of Little Hours and thought about wearing a hair shirt all day, all night, til death do us part. As Frank would say, Sheeeeeesh!
Today, while I must admit a certain admiration for the Jesuits, despite their reputation for “extreme” liberalism, I lean heavily toward the Dominicans. They are smart, and they are eloquent. I’d make a good preacher, I think, and I look great in white.
What do you say, YIMC Community?
