Paul's partying was one of the discomforting encounters in his life as a Catholic. It is a portrayal of what many faithful experiences to express the meanders through the religious journey. However, it is evident that Paul has been waiting for the moment where he can get together with his friend, interact with new people, and enjoy one another's company. Paul writes, "I'll never know why Shamus Thompson singled me out" (Wilkes 29). Such incidents happen to the religious individual, and especially those who are viewed to disapprove their peers' behaviors (Billy 53).
However, Paul got a chance to interact with peoples in Thompson's party. From his perspective, he has been thinking of fast crowd's parties where participants drink beer from frosted glasses, and they have plenty of mixed beers (Wilkes 29). During the party, he thought that that he was fashionable but in the eyes of his friend, he was far from that and needed a total transformation. His friend introduced him to another life where friends did not have any curfew, and even girls smoked a cigarette. This illustrates that Paul was naïve to live the life his friends lived in Cathedral Latin. Though the life depicted no favorable future, Paul argues that this was a wonderful present.
Paul explains the encounter as a shallowest time of his life where he "enshrouded in a fog of alcohol and perfume and testosterone" (Wilkes 30). Although he was dissatisfied and ashamed of his sins, it is clear that this is what our culture want us to do, "have a good time." In Cathedral Latin, children could do their "things" without being intruded by their parents. It was a society that no one was there for the guidance and counseling of children who seems to be lost. Only the society can formulate strategies to mitigate such behaviors.
Works Cited
Billy, Dennis J. Living in the Gap - 2nd Edition: Religious Life and the Call to Community. New City Press, 2014. Print.
Wilkes, Paul. In Due Season: A Catholic Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Print.
