A priest

Why would a priest be a priest?

I'm not sure about what a priest does everyday, but that day I watched the movie "The Confessor" (or "The Good Shepherd", it received quite some criticisms despite its interesting story line), which made me wonder that =/ Initially the movie caught my attention as the description said "A must-see for anyone interested in firm noir and psychological mysteries." And it made me think about some.. very religious thingy which seldom comes into my mind. I'd say I come from a Buddhist family, as my grandpa was a Buddhist but the rest of my family, none of them looks like a Buddhist ... So most of the time I say myself a free-thinker, but to avoid troubles in some cases, I'd say I'm a Buddhist then. I hope no offend taken on what I blog about today, as I don't really know much about religions, just want to write down what the movie has made me thought about.

Thomas Andrew, a priest, was accused of murder, and he decided to sacrifice his life rather than violate the principles he believes in. What the principles mean here, is that people don't confess to him, but they confess to God through him, so whatever he knew from the confession, he couldn't be telling anyone else, and thus to conform to the rule of confidentiality (rather than to protect the murderer), he would rather be accused as the murderer.

Interesting, isn't it? I'm not sure whether there are priests like him in real life, or can all the priest do what he did? I mean, they are all human, like you, like me, how would people have such pure and unselfish mind, to work as a priest? To be authorize to administer religious rites, to listen to confessions, to devote his/her whole life to the church/god/believers? How would a person develop to become a priest? Like, how his environment of growing up, his friends, his daily activities, his attitudes toward religion, marriage and strangers... For most people, I guess people around them and themselves always come first, but how about priests? Do they disregard their own welfare and advantage over those of others all the time? especially when "those of others" are just some strangers or some not very close friends?