How do I view myself as a priest?
Copyright © 2008 by Odell Sneeden Hathaway III This is a paper I wrote and submitted to the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles when I was trying to join the priesthood. The title of this paper asks a monumental question—like asking a man here on Earth to step outside of the Milky Way and say what the galaxies look like. One can never really know what one looks like; one can only look around and try to see things in the universe that act like oneself, and see what they look like and what they are. For me, the decision to try to become a priest is one that I have tried to avoid for over ten years. I have many reasons not to be a priest—I am shy, I am introverted, I am … —but I have only one real reason for being a priest, and that reason is that something inside of me has been telling me to be a priest since I was in high school. For me, being a priest is not a choice of occupation or job—it is what I feel I am supposed to be. A dog is a dog, a cat is a cat, and somethi...