The trouble with my fascination with the lifestyle of priests is that, if I were to interview one, all the stuff I’m curious about would sound offensive in the form of a question. I want to learn about a specific type of preist, the Catholic type, which is the one, I think, that cannot marry and have a family or anything like that. More than everything else, I want to know how he feels about never having, and never being allowed to even hope to have, sex. But the wording of the question I would have to ask to get him to speak on this matter without offending him eludes me. Still, there are plenty of other curious topics that I could try to have a priest talk about, though these are less interesting to me (but, at the same time, make for more harmless questions). I know that only men can be Catholic priests. How does this translate into a priest’s views about gender roles and womanhood? Does he feel dominant as a man? Does he feel that the Catholic rule preventing women from being priests is proper or just? Are his general views about gender more traditional? Who prepares all his meals? A woman? Do priests ever go to baseball games? If yes, do they feel different amidst the crowds, blessed vessels of God’s holiness and wisdom among mere beer-drinking mortals? What do they do all day? What are their goals and concerns? Do they workout? Read the paper? Do they ever slip up and make mistakes, and if so, what does this mean to them (is it a graver sin to use god’s name in vain than to tell a lie)? There are lots of questions I would like to ask a priest, most of them centering around the curiosity of how similar to or unlike “normal” people they are. But I’m guessing it wouldn’t be so easy to get one to open up.
So, I wrote about monastics as well before I even saw this. I agree, everything that I would want to ask would come off completely wrong, but I can’t help but be fascinated.
I went to Catholic school and was taught by several Catholic priests, and I would have to say that some of them really do buy into everything the church says about gender roles and they just sort of stay around the church and don’t get out much, but there are some who really do get out in the world and live fairly normal lives and would probably love to answer those types of questions. We had a priest who taught theology at my high school and was also the wrestling coach. He liked telling the story about when he had gone on a trip to Las Vegas and a prostitute tried to proposition him, but when he refused he thought it would be awkward to say he was a priest.