Catholicism in its heyday combined a fairly decentralized administration, under the sway of stand-alone bishops, with a uniform set of beliefs. One reason why it used to take roughly 13 years for a Jesuit to reach ordination was the long indoctrination in orthodoxy required for priests who, unlike “regular clergy” (whose training lasted half that time), would be mobile and beyond the direct control of bishops.
这并非新状况。新状况是它所开展的环境。天主教在鼎盛时期集合了相当分散的管理（由单枪匹马的主教支配）和整齐划一的信仰。耶稣会士往往要经过13年左右才能获得圣职，原因之一是正统的长期教化需要牧师，而牧师与“寺院教士”（regular clergy，训练期只有前者的一半）不同，他们是流动的，不受主教的直接控制。