Old Man's Seminary

Men called to the priesthood in their middle age or later have a rough scholastic row to hoe: a six-year course in competition with young men already in the swing of studying. Only one Roman Catholic seminary specializes in training older men--Rome's Beda College, which last year graduated 14 men (one American) at an average age of 46. Beda recently announced that it could no longer accept Americans because of overcrowding, and last week Boston's Richard Cardinal Gushing announced that the second such seminary would be built in his archdiocese.

To be called St. Pius X Belated Vocation Seminary,* it will occupy a 145-acre tract in Marlboro, 28 miles from Boston. It will train men mostly in their 405 and 503 who have college degrees and experience in law, medicine and teaching. Candidates for the priesthood will be accepted from all over the world, and Cardinal Gushing hazards no guesses as to their numbers, though an estimated one in 50 priests has a "delayed vocation." Among notable examples: Cardinals Newman (45) and Manning (42). No upper age limit will be set at the new seminaries. Says Cardinal Gushing: "The response to the divine calling to the priesthood can come at any age. Surely we,cannot narrow the divine call, 'Come, follow me.'"

* After the Pope (1903-1914) whom Cardinal Gushing calls "one of my favorite liberals," and who was noted for his condemnation of "modernism."

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