The Edge of Sadness
The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O’Connor, it is a wonderful book, which every candidate for the priesthood must read. The life of Father Kennedy narrated in this text is a mere representation of the experience of many priests around the world. At present, good and bad things of priests are heard; unfortunately, we hear more bad things than good. This text reflects an aspect of the life of some priests and also as people imagine how they live. Father Kennedy expresses it with these words:
“Any priest in any movie is almost by definition a parody. Which in a way is understandable enough. I don’t think many people know very much about priests – I’m not talking now about anything so complicated as the psychology of the religious, or the motives for vocation; I mean just the ordinary simple matter of how priests live from day to day, how they fill in their idle hours – and those do know aren’t necessarily in Hollywood” (154).
This is very true in a certain sense; there is a lot of ignorance about priestly life. Some people think that priests are “angels” who only come down to celebrate mass. Even many children and young people believe that the priest has no problems, no obstacles, and no sadness that other people experience. This reminds me of a 10-year-old boy who comes and asks me this question: do the …show more content…
Father Kennedy, despite that, is experiencing these situations he tries to be a good priest. Alcoholism is a serious problem that enslaves the person who falls into their nets and it is very difficult to escape. The sad thing is that an alcoholic has to lie to survive, cannot survive telling the truth. Each priest is a human being who lives the same things as many laity people. It is necessary that all know that in order to be able to support them in all to go forward. They all need one, two or more opportunities to
The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O’Connor, it is a wonderful book, which every candidate for the priesthood must read. The life of Father Kennedy narrated in this text is a mere representation of the experience of many priests around the world. At present, good and bad things of priests are heard; unfortunately, we hear more bad things than good. This text reflects an aspect of the life of some priests and also as people imagine how they live. Father Kennedy expresses it with these words:
“Any priest in any movie is almost by definition a parody. Which in a way is understandable enough. I don’t think many people know very much about priests – I’m not talking now about anything so complicated as the psychology of the religious, or the motives for vocation; I mean just the ordinary simple matter of how priests live from day to day, how they fill in their idle hours – and those do know aren’t necessarily in Hollywood” (154).
This is very true in a certain sense; there is a lot of ignorance about priestly life. Some people think that priests are “angels” who only come down to celebrate mass. Even many children and young people believe that the priest has no problems, no obstacles, and no sadness that other people experience. This reminds me of a 10-year-old boy who comes and asks me this question: do the …show more content…
Father Kennedy, despite that, is experiencing these situations he tries to be a good priest. Alcoholism is a serious problem that enslaves the person who falls into their nets and it is very difficult to escape. The sad thing is that an alcoholic has to lie to survive, cannot survive telling the truth. Each priest is a human being who lives the same things as many laity people. It is necessary that all know that in order to be able to support them in all to go forward. They all need one, two or more opportunities to