I really am working hard. I sometimes wonder if the preparation of
a "good" theological college is the best preparation for the
priesthood. But so long as bishops demand the knowledge they do, it
is obvious that this form of preparation will continue. There again
though, I daresay if I imagined myself an inspired pianist I should
grumble at the amount of scales I was set to practice. I'm not,
once I've written down or talked out some of my folly, so very
foolish at bottom.
Beyond a slight inclination to flirt with the opinions of most of
the great heresiarchs in turn, but only with each one until the
next comes along, I'm not having any intellectual adventures. One
of the excitements I had imagined beforehand was wrestling with
Doubt. But I have no wrestles. Shall I always be spared?
Your ever affectionate,
Mark.
Gradually, as the months went by, either because the students became
more mellow in such surroundings or because he himself was achieving a
wider tolerance, Mark lost much of his capacity for criticism and
learned to recognize in his fellows a simple goodness and sincerity of
purpose that almost frightened him when he thought of that great world
outside, in the confusion and complexity of which they had pledged
themselves to lead souls up to God.
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