One of my relatives, a great uncle, was a pastor—a clergyman for the Church of England who served in Canada’s province of Quebec. Family lore is that he was not a particularly good pastor. My mother was recently sorting through some old family papers and came across a letter that would seem to say that the lore is based on fact. This letter was sent to him in 1942 by the Right Reverend Philip Carrington, Bishop of Quebec. I don’t know anything much about Carrington, but I admire his forthrightness!
My Dear [Name],
You asked me again about a chaplaincy when I called on you a month ago. I am going to tell you the brutal truth. I do not see that you would make a good chaplain. When I ordained you six years ago, I did so because (in spite of appearances) I believed you had qualities of energy and devotion and hard work, and certain abilities in the way of dealing with men and boys. I appointed you to Hatley because I still had the same impression. You showed certain signs of energy when you first went to Grosse Ile, but they did not appear
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