Screening The Priests

In any case, says Plante, when new rules come down, he will soldier on. His entry into this line of consulting, he recalls, was a little like being an Army reservist: "They called: 'You're a shrink. You're Catholic. You can help us.' How do you say no?" And he notes that "there are a lot of things we don't agree with in the church, but we still identify as Catholic."

In fact, given the reported subtlety of the impending decree, he may not even find himself in disagreement. But it may take more than three quick questions for him, not to mention his future interviewees, to parse it all out.