250
TWELVE YEARS IN A MONASTERY
cannot convince themselves of my mental derangement have the grim alternative of regarding me as having ‘obviously betrayed a sacred trust’ (to quote my correspondent) , and infallibly excluded from ‘the homes of the blest.’ Only my own immediate family circle (and not all of those) and one other family, out of a wide circle of friends, still regard me as a rational and honest human being.
Such a violent disruption of the past is the lot of every seceder from Rome. Add to it the practical difficulty of re-commencing life in mature age, and some idea will be formed of one great force that helps to preserve the integrity of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
