Mommy, where do priests come from?

The Happy Catholic links to a post by the Anchoress about religious and military vocations, including a poll on the question, "If you are Catholic, have you encouraged or discouraged your child to consider the priesthood or religious life?"

As it happens, just last night my wife asked whether I'd ever imagined what our 14-year-old son's future wife would look like, and the son, who was sitting right there and who must be contrary (see his age, above), said, "I'm going to become a priest."

And I said, "Really? 'Cause I could make that happen. I know some people."

So don't blame me for any priest shortage.

Then we started talking about who pays for the seminary, and I said that diocesan candidates would generally already have their undergraduate degrees.

And my son asked, "Do you have to be smart, or rich, to be a priest?"

Which allowed me to say, "No, you can be a Franciscan."

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