Reading the by-now-infamous Pew Research Center’s report on the state of religious affiliation in America this past week, I was taken back to a conversation I had as a divinity school student with an undergraduate considering ministry. He was an incredibly bright guy and could have decided to go into any field that he wanted and been immensely successful, but he was feeling a call to the priesthood in the Episcopal tradition in which he was raised.
I of course supported him in this call, and we talked about different seminaries he might consider and whether or not it would be a good idea to wait a year or two and get some “real world experience” before entering into another degree program (always a good idea in my book). But then, almost as an aside, I asked him how his parents were reacting to his call to ministry, expecting him so say something like “proud and supportive,” since he had spoken fondly of being raised in the church. But he got quiet.
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