A good question to ask someone to elicit a good first quote is to ask why they do what they do or why it is important to them. I think it is important to also acknowledge their effort or love for what they do to elicit a meaningful response. If they take their job really seriously I would probably ask “Why are you so driven to do this?” or “What made you love doing this so much?” Passion can often be traced back to a specific moment or series of moments in someone’s life. I don’t think most people just wake up one morning and decide to be a religious leader.
That is also a good reason to do background research on the person being interviewed. It’s hard to get good answers from someone when the questions aren’t really acknowledging their life and work. For me, Father Arturo received an industrial engineering degree in chemistry in 1980. Four years later he studied philosophy at the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and later got his masters in theology from the University of Innsbruck in Austria. My question for him would be “What led you to getting an industrial engineering degree to studying philosophy and getting a masters in theology?” I found this info by just searching for his bio page on the church’s website.
Leave a Reply