12841: re:priesthood (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com

miss_dewind@hotmail.com wrote:

"My question is if Aristide was once a priest { whose basic job is to help
the needy and poor } then why is it so hard for him to live a basic life
(maybe he does i don't know) but it certainly doesnt seem that way to a few
curious bystanders."

Young men's motivation to enter the priesthood are probably dependent on the
social situation they come from as well as their personal inclinations.  (In
the Boston area we are in a crisis about those who entered so that they could
practice their predatory sexual tendencies under the cover of the holy
cloth).  It was very common in Haiti for young people from a less educated
background to enter the priesthood so that they could have a free secondary
and university education.  Once a young person declared his interest to the
church they would then be admitted to a boarding school for aspiring priests
and attend the catholic church's high schools and seminaries.  Apparently
Aristide's family was not very poor.  It is said that his father was a coffee
trader (speculateur de cafe).  To keep such a position in the sixties and
seventies you had to be in good terms with the Duvalier Tontons Macoutes.
Most people in such a position would try insure that their children achieve a
high school or university level .  Aristide may have entered the priesthood
because he and his family wanted a good education, not necessarily because he
wanted all of the commitments this choice entails.