Schoenbaum suspects Catholic sympathies of some kind or another in Shakespeare and his family, but considers the writer himself to be a less than pious person with essentially worldly motives: "...the artist takes precedence over the votary".
Schoenbaum suggests that Shakespeare's family may have had some Catholic sympathies, but believes the playwright himself was driven by secular interests rather than a strong sense of spirituality: "Artistic pursuits often take precedence over personal faith".