Page 172 - Demo
P. 172


                                    %u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK160 Jack FritscherSome of the seminarians around me, including several of Tank%u2019s vigilante altar boys, nodded me on with guarded approval, fearful we%u2019d sound like the disappeared Dryden.%u201cWe might raise the standard of viewing,%u201d I said. %u201cThere%u2019s immense psychology, real religious psychology at that, behind a director like Bergman. He won the Academy Award. Did you see The Virgin Spring?%u201d%u201cHow high did she go?%u201d Hank the Tank asked.The room exploded in laughter. Humor, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, is the unexpected juxtaposition of opposites.%u201cNo more suggestive talk,%u201d Gunn said.%u201cFilms examine interpersonal relationships.%u201d I was coming on strong, surrounded by classmates who were quite happy for me to climb out on a limb that allowed them to watch more movies.%u201cInterpersonal relationships?%u201d Gunn recoiled visibly.My long-contemplated chance, my opening, my plan to catch him in public, where he was on the spot, had found its natural moment. %u201cPriests are supposed to be educated. The most educated of all. This seems a perfect chance for broadening vicarious experience.%u201d%u201cI can guarantee you, O%u2019Hara, you don%u2019t want experience.%u201d%u201cBut I do.%u201d%u201cExperience comes slowly,%u201d he said, %u201cif it comes at all.%u201d%u201cWe clergy must see there%u2019s more to films than we%u2019ve seen tonight.%u201d%u201cWe don%u2019t have to,%u201d he said, %u201csee anything!%u201dI fell back a step.He crossed and uncrossed and recrossed his arms.I took a step toward him.%u201cPriests need movies like a hole in the head.%u201d He uncrossed his arms, extended his wrist, tapped his watch, held it above his head. %u201cNight prayers,%u201d he announced. %u201cTime for night prayers. Let%u2019s have absolute silence!%u201d%u201cTold you so,%u201d Hank the Tank said.As I stood by Father Gunn, I let the other seminarians walk away.Father Gunn was perturbed. %u201cWhat do you want now, O%u2019Hara?%u201d %u201cI just wanted to say,%u201d I whispered, %u201cthat I really like your new toupee.%u201dCommunication is a brief encounter, I thought. That was my sole meditation before bedtime and it wasn%u2019t a good one: too many negative un-Christlike thoughts about too many negative people. Why try to change the seminary at all? We had agreed to bring light after, not before, Ordination.I was angry at Father Gunn for his mean sense of discipline. Every move was a battle of wills. I had been thwarted all evening because I hadn%u2019t 
                                
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