Patrick McNamara: General Sherman's Jesuit Son

Patrick McNamara, writing in Patheos, has an engaging article on Thomas Ewing Sherman, whose entrance into the Jesuits caused a rift with his skeptic father, the prominent Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. Thomas Sherman wrote movingly of his calling in a letter to his sister:

People in love do strange things.... Having a vocation is like being in love, only more so, as there is no love more absorbing, so deep and so lasting as that of the creature for the Creator. What a grand thing it is to be, as it were, shooting straight at one's mark, living every hour, performing every action in preparation for the great hereafter.

Turbulent and restless, Thomas became a sought after Catholic celebrity, speaking to rapt audiences throughout the United States, only to sever his ties from the Jesuits completely in 1914. He was reconciled with them before his death. Read all of this fascinating article at this link.

Photo of Thomas Ewing Sherman; source; Wikipedia