The Gathering by William X. Kienzle Read Free Book Online Page A

their own class anyway. And you and I know a sum total of two boys!”
    “And all our girl classmates,” Rose reminded.
    “It just doesn’t seem right. We go through seven years; we’re in the same building—at least through sixth grade, then all of a sudden we’re not only not in separate classrooms, we’re not even in the same building.”
    “And,” Rose added, “the boys aren’t taught by the nuns. Their teachers are the Brothers of Mary.”
    “That’s right. Why do you suppose the boys have to wait until seventh grade to get the Brothers? I mean, they’re already in separate classrooms. How come they don’t get the Brothers right off the bat? In first grade.”
    Rose paused in mid-stroke. “I suppose it’s simply supply and demand.”
    “Huh?”
    “Maybe there aren’t enough Brothers to go around. It comes down to numbers.”
    “Really?”
    “Mike and I have talked about it.”
    “And?”
    “Well, take the girls … our classmates … ourselves. The plan—at least in Redeemer—is for all the girls to be taught by nuns, with maybe an occasional laywoman. When the girls graduate, most of them get a job. A few go to college. But, in any case, practically every one of them is looking for a husband. After all, being a housewife is the ultimate goal … right?”
    “Hmmm. Yeah … I guess so. But what about girls like us … who want to go to the convent?”
    “Then …” Rose was having trouble keeping track of the strokes. “ … we go to the convent. Ordinarily, girls like us naturally go to Monroe—to the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You know, that’s the religious order that trained and taught us.
    “But even if we don’t go to Monroe … if we become, say, Dominicans from Adrian … we’d still be the same essentially. We’d be nuns. Just members of different orders, that’s all.”
    “Sure. But what’s that got to do with the Brothers? That there aren’t enough to staff all twelve grades of boys?”
    “That’s where Mike comes in.”
    Alice shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
    “How many boys from Redeemer intend to become priests?”
    “I dunno. A couple … maybe three or four …”
    “From the whole high school?”
    “No. I meant by class. I’d say”—Alice ran the figures through her mind—“a couple—as many as four or five … from each class.”
    “Okay. Why do you think these kids go to the seminary?”
    Alice shrugged. “Because they want to be priests.”
    “Yes. But
why
do they want to be priests?”
    “Well, going to a parochial school doesn’t hurt. Having Catholic parents. Like that.”
    Rose nodded. “And Mike tells me it’s not only those things. It’s also because they think being a priest is exciting. They want to get in on the action.”
    “I couldn’t argue with that.”
    “It’s right from the horse’s mouth. Mike said that. And he also said that not many of the kids understand what the Brothers are up to. And that’s why the Brothers don’t inspire many kids to join up.”
    Alice looked surprised. “Gee, I don’t have a problem with that. The Brothers of Mary we’ve got here are classy guys. Real men and real teachers.”
    “But they’re not teaching
us
. So we don’t experience them the way the boys do. Anyway, how many boys in Redeemer High School, do you think, sign up to join the Brothers?”
    “I … I don’t know. Not as many as want to be priests.”
    “Would you believe one or two in the whole high school? Mike says the kids appreciate being taught by men for the first time in all the years in school. He says he just doesn’t see the Brothers as a vocation. One of Mike’s teachers asked him if he wanted to become a Brother.”
    “What did Mike say?”
    “He said he’d never thought of being a Brother. He said the Brother looked kind of hurt. Like he’d been personally turned down. But Mike had said it and he couldn’t take it back.
    “Mike told me he couldn’t understand the