In "the olden days" like 30 years plus ago, there was always one boy that the Irish catholic family decided would become the priest. Usually he was the soft spoken, sweet, effeminate one. Having a son as a priest was as prideful as having a doctor in the family. It was a win-win situation. Now that homosexuality is no longer considered abnormal, the number of men going into the priesthood has fallen dramatically. Same situation for nuns. Thankfully now, many people do not have to hide behind the cloth. Intelligence is slowly winning over a few sentences in a book written thousands of years ago.
Thirty plus years started in 1985!!! I do think though there was that trend in some areas--maybe more Italian. But it's probably mostly a stereotype. I think of Saturday Night Fever where John Travolta's older brother was a priest. They were very proud of that.
