Well, all priests and religious were something prior to responding to their call, even if “something” was being a high school student!
When I was in Catholic high school I belonged to a ski club. It was chaperoned by one of the nuns. I learned to ski as a very young child, and was very good at it (hmm–that’s another thing I’d like to do in heaven–go skiing with Bl. JP II, but I digress.)
We were all required to go to our ski lesson before doing an hour of free-time skiing for the evening. Some of us used to sneak off into the woods and smoke cigarettes, thinking Sister would be none the wiser for our skipping the lessons. I was one such little miscreant.
One evening a group of us were inside the tree line, smoking, when we suddenly heard “Ah-HA!” coming from just uphill of us. I turned and saw what looked like Batman on skis: Sister Mary David had caught us, and was giving chase. In a full habit, which billowed out behind her, giving her the Batman effect. I quickly turned downhill and got out of the tree line, tucked, and sped toward the bottom of the mountain. I was overtaken by Sister Mary David. I came to a stop, she tore my lift ticket and ordered me to the base lodge, where she had caught other little twerps, who were already writing out catechism questions and answers fifty times as punishment.
On the bus on the way home, I commented to her that I had never seen anyone ski that well in my life.
She said sternly, “Surely, Odile, you do not think I was *born *a nun! I was on the 1964 US Alpine team, and my event was the downhill!”
That being said, the Jesuits tend to attract a lot of men in vocation who have some work experience (usually, professional occupations) prior to answering their vocation. There is even a Jesuit ballet dancer, he is in charge of the dance department at Boston University nowadays, and still teaches class. I had a Jesuit professor at Fordham who was a WWII veteran, and was in the Central Intelligence Service (the military forerunner of the CIA.) In other words, a spy. Their formation is pretty intensive and social service oriented, and they get assignments that can require pretty exotic skills. I know quite a few Jesuits, and once asked one of the priests if, in addition to their vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and allegiance to the Pope, if they took a vow of “cool.” He nearly got the hiccoughs laughing!
The Holy Father’s experience as a bouncer might serve him in good stead in dealing with some of the issues that the Church is facing nowadays. I understand, though, he was a pretty mediocre soccer player, so I wouldn’t expect any b— kicking from those quarters!
That’s awesome.
