At St. John Vianney seminary in Westchester, young men defy odds to become priests

[lemonbeam]

BY JAWEED KALEEM
JKALEEM@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Bryan Garcia has an ear for Linkin Park and the Black Eyed Peas, feet for dancing salsa, a guilty pleasure in sitcoms, a love of soccer and a habit of slicking back his dark brown hair.

But something sets this 21-year-old apart from the typical college student: He’s studying to be a Roman Catholic priest.

Garcia is one of 74 men at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Westchester. While the church nationally is coping with a shortage of priests, you wouldn’t know it from St. Vianney, which is experiencing its largest enrollment in 3 ½ decades.

The students are walking the road to a job that takes longer to prepare for than a medical degree, pays less than a janitor’s wage and demands a lifetime without sex.

People think we're these perfect, pious people,'' says Garcia. We’re normal guys.’’

There’s the 33-year-old former Air Force pilot from Tampa who, while flying dozens of high-pressure missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, found solace in his faith. Already a college graduate, he will study two years before joining an advanced seminary in Boynton Beach and aims to be a military chaplain.

There’s the 23-year-old from Boca Raton, a neuroscience graduate from the University of Miami who opted to skip medical school and follow in the footsteps of his Vietnamese father, a former seminarian who was jailed for his faith before fleeing during the Vietnam War.

Read more: miamiherald.com/living/religion-values/v-fullstory/story/1356388.html

 

[Joe_5859]

Wow, a surprisingly positive story about the Church in a secular newspaper. Good to see.