The clergy is in the same business as actors, just a different department.

Acting is an imaginative leap, really, isn't it? And imaginations prosper in different circumstances.

Our clerics neither evangelize like the apostles, nor go to war like the secular lords, nor toil like laborers

We're all just passing time and occupy our chair very briefly.

It's an immensely competitive business, and I can tell you the older you get, the parts are fewer, and the people who are proven performers are greater.

I am not an enormous believer in research being the be-all and end-all. I get suspicious when I read about actors spending six months in a clinic, say, in order to play someone who is sick.