on pedestals.
We were taught to be respectful and polite but we picked up the "keep your distance" attitude of my folks and never doted on them or wanted to hang around them, personally, as some people did.
I feel the same way now when I see women my age running up to embrace a priest and make much over them. With me its always, "Hi Father" and that's pretty much it
My dad used to work in our parish as a maintenance man and the pastor (big, fairly well to do parish) worked those guys to death with little pay even though they all had families. 6 days a week, long hours. No union.
My mom was an orphan and was sent to work in a convent when she was 14 as a scullery maid. One of her jobs was (and her in a new country and right off the farm) to make deliveries on foot in fog bound London. She had to hold onto the buildings to try to find her way. Also, she and her cousin (also orphaned) had the jobs of scrubbing down the steps and sidewalk early every morning on their hands and knees with wire scrub brushes - and they had hard task masters.
I guess that explains their lack of personal attachment to the clergy, parish and schools, that were in our lives at that time.