Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.

So I was very close to ordination. I was delighted to be ordained a deacon, which is the last step between, before becoming a priest. But then it all fell apart.

And I found both literature and the church very dramatic presences in the world of the 1950s.

It's only when you abandon your ambitions that they become possible.

Um, what I found though about the Christian Brothers is this: that they were certainly muscular.

And I definitely wanted to be a writer, but I felt a duty now, having used up those educational resources, I felt a duty to the church and my parents to become a priest.

So nonetheless given the importance that was placed on sport in Australia, I wanted to be part of that scene, particularly since I had felt very strongly in my early schooling being marginalised even in the Catholic school.