Following One's Calling

A central theme of following one's calling or vocation emerges most frequently in the bitter exchanges between Don Tabaha and Father Doherty over Tabaha's decision to become a research scientist and the more philosophical discussions between Niles and Father Doherty over Niles's loss of faith in his scholarship and its effect on his teaching art history. The ability to follow one's calling despite occasional lapses is witnessed in Doherty himself. For example, he describes his church service to Vita as one where "Twelve, fifteen stoic Navajos shuffle in, kneel, I mumble sincerely, they mumble sincerely, and they shuffle out." For Father Doherty, administering religion to a congregation that may not be particularly attuned to everything that Christianity has to offer may be daunting but it is what he does. His insistence on the importance of vocation is most dramatically seen in the encounters he has with...