Dear FilsdeMarie,

You are very generous in your appraisal of my eclectic gleanings. The "secret" (actually in my case a series of providential accidents) is to master Latin while you are still young, then go to work for a traditional Catholic publishing house for ten years, meanwhile to receive a legacy from a priest permitting one to study intensely for several years without financial worries, and to acquire the best library one can, for the next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it out.

But of course these opportunities are not available to everyone.

Et en attendant, tout cela a un côté bien inquiétant. Dans le magnifique livre humoristique Decline and Fall de Evelyn Waugh, un clerc déclare, "I have noticed again and again since I have been in the Church that lay interest in ecclesiastical matters is often a prelude to insanity."

JD

PS Sans partager la naïve présomption d'un Griffon que tout prêtre sait plus que tout laïque en matières religieuses, il convient tout de même de saluer le clergé réellement instruit, par exemple l'abbé F.H. Sinon on tombera dans l'illusion inverse.