Don't make your money from writing or talking about the church

Whenever I meet a young lay person studying theology and complaining about how little they are going to make as a professor I always want to give them a good shake. In  America we are taught to follow our passion when it comes time to get a job but what if your passion simply will not support a family and a wife who is not interested in genteel poverty? I've seen Protestant preacher converts who were too old to start over with a career who glide into being Catholic apologists and I've seen cradle Catholic guys, (its' mostly guys) who have some talent at it, supplement their incomes with writing gigs at  Catholic media outlets. The writing gig can lead to a book and the lucrative speaking circuit and fans who hang on their every thought instead of consulting an actual priest. The trouble with this is the gravy train has to be fueled.

When you have a family and the rent/mortgage/tuition needs to be paid it's pretty hard to take a stand that could take food from your children's mouths or make your spouse very unhappy because the bill collector keeps calling. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski wrote a review on Amazon about Antonio Socci's book. Somebody didn't like it and he revised the review four times and each time was less positive a bout the book.  Pitiful.