Meet the Cast: Father Paul Fortis
We Are Not Saints Series
Once again, I’m Jay Carson, and in this installment, we’ll be talking to one of the principal cast members of the We Are Not Saints series. Our guest is Father Paul Fortis who has been a Catholic priest for over twenty years now, but in the series, we meet him on the day of his ordination. He’s come a long way since then. I think we’d like to know a little more about him, his background, and how he got into the series.
Jay May I call you Paul, or would you prefer “Father”?
Paul Please call me Paul. I think we’ve become good enough friends by now.
Jay Fine. You’re not the main character in the earliest book, The Priest, and I understand that your own story is still under development. Yet, here you are, the first of the cast to be interviewed. How did that come about?
Paul I’m just lucky, I guess. But seriously, the rest of the cast thought I should be the first to step up because I’m one of the only members to appear in all four books. Still, I’ve got to tell you, I had to fight Jared to come here ahead of him and he really hates to lose.
Jay Before we get to Jared and your relationship, I’d like to know a little more about your background. So far, the books don’t tell us much about your early life.
Paul When I was born, my family lived in a little rural community known as Harmony, California. It’s just a mile or two south of Cambria on the Pacific Coast Highway. I’m the middle child — I have an older sister and a younger brother — and when I reached school age, my parents got tired of having to drive us all over the place, so we moved up to Cambria when I was five. My parents are devout Catholics, so all three of us went to Catholic grammar school and high school. That’s where I met Jared.
Jay Have you always wanted to be a priest?
Paul Pretty much. The idea kind of grabbed me when I was about nine years old, and it wouldn’t let go.
Jay Did your parents push you toward the priesthood — you know, Catholic family and all…
Paul No, not at all. They were supportive, but didn’t push me one way or another. I really pushed myself.
Jay What attracted you to it? The ritual?
Paul I guess; but mainly the spirituality and the idea of offering spiritual service to others. I had a hunger and I knew that there were plenty of other people out there starving spiritually. I thought maybe I’d have something to offer them.
Jay You mentioned Jared Röhrbach a little while ago. He was from Cambria, too, wasn’t he? Was he your best friend?
Paul It was way more than that. We didn’t know each other in grammar school, but we discovered each other the first month of freshman year of high school. We had so much in common, we bonded immediately. It still wasn’t cool to be gay and out — especially in Catholic school — but we were both as out as we dared to be. Some of our classmate friends knew, and the longer we were in the school, the more people knew about us. They were cool and didn’t make an issue out of it. I’m almost certain that some of the faculty knew, but they mainly looked the other way. Just because you teach in a Catholic high school doesn’t mean you have to be narrow-minded.
Jay So you and Jared were a couple early on. Did that include sex?
Paul Sure. We were both inexperienced and definitely naive. Frankly, it was incredible having someone like Jared whom I really loved to experiment with. He made an awesome partner even back then.
Jay What attracted you to him — and be careful, because I’m going to ask him the same question.
Paul Oh, my God — and I mean that literally — he was a gay boy’s dream-come-true. He had it all: looks, an amazing body, personality that wouldn’t quit, and, beyond that, he was incredibly smart. I was always an honor student, but he regularly left me behind. I’m no slouch, but there were times I felt inadequate next to him. He’s a very take-charge kind of guy, and I think that may have been what I needed back then.
Jay Here’s the big question that’s got to be on everyone’s mind: how did you square being in a sexual relationship with this guy with your beliefs?
Paul I can’t say I didn’t know that question was coming. To begin with, I was — what? — fourteen or fifteen when we met and we were both gay guys with a combination of raging hormones and a willing and anxious partner. Jared was always fine with it, so I sort of shelved the whole issue. When the morality question came up in school, I just took it all with a grain of salt. My experience wasn’t matching their theory.
Jay And later on?
Paul What can I say? We were a committed couple all the way through school. We went to college at Catholic U. in Washington DC together, we roomed together, we vacationed together, and we both ended up going to the seminary in Rome.
Jay You decided to study for the priesthood even though you knew about the celibacy rule?
Paul We both wanted the same things. We talked about it. We encouraged each other. We’d decided a long time ago that our relationship was right for us. We thought that, together, we could have both our relationship and our priesthood. We could make it work.
Jay So you went to Rome for your seminary. How did that come about?
Paul That was really Bishop Mickleson’s doing. There was another guy in our diocese who was a couple of years ahead of us in school and was being sent to Rome. His name was Peter Duncan. We became friends with Peter when we got to Catholic U.
Jay Is Peter gay?
Paul No, not even a little. But somewhere along the line, he’d met Cardinal Romero when he was visiting DC from Rome. He’s head of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops and has a lot of say about who gets promoted and who gets placed in important positions. On one of the cardinal’s trips to DC, Peter got us invitations to a reception for him at the Vatican embassy and that’s where we were introduced to him. The rest is history.
Jay What do you mean?
Paul The cardinal took a liking to us. He has a group of guys like us from various countries that he mentors. I think even Bishop Mickleson was one of his protégés.
Jay Is the cardinal gay?
Paul Who knows? The guys he mentors are all young seminarians or priests. They’re all smart, personable, and maybe even ambitious. If they happen to be good-looking as well, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt. But his protégés have to be clean — no scandals. We found that out the hard way.
Jay I’d love to have you tell us more about that, but we’re coming to the end of our session. Would you consider coming back to talk to us again?
Paul Absolutely. Just tell me when. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.
Jay Likewise. And I want to thank you for taking the time out to visit with us and share some of your story with interview followers.
Please watch for our next installment when we’ll be talking with Father Jared Röhrbach.
…until next time!
NOW: Email Father Paul: Paul.Fortis@WeAreNotSaints.net
