It is often hard for them to imagine a life outside holyorders, which could be their fate if they alienated the bishop who has a hold over their salary, pension and private life.
Perhaps in the next few years, in the grand tradition of his own order, the Jesuits, Pope Francis will inspire a new generation of seminarians to go into the sciences before they take their HolyOrders.
The Labour member for Rhondda has other strings in abundance, as an author, having written biographies of Stafford Cripps and Glenda Jackson, as a BBC executive and as an Anglican priest - he resigned his holyorders in order to fight the seat of Wycombe in 1997.