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FATHER MATHEW C. GEORGE
REFLECTIONS ON MY DECISION TO BECOME A PRIEST

When I started writing about my seminary life, I did not intend to write the way I do now. Now I am sharing everything except what I say in the confessional, and from the response I get, it seems everyone likes the way it is going. I hope that someone will be inspired to respond to the call of God, to religious and priestly life, knowing that God calls ordinary people with all kinds of limitations and makes use of them in different ways. None of us are immune to the struggles and temptations of human life, but God fills us with his grace when we give ourselves to his cause.

The final year of my philosophy course was a quiet year since I had settled down from most of the turmoil of my life. It was a time I began to concentrate on my studies as we had to take the final university exam. At this age we were hungry all the time. We were not allowed to go to the kitchen except for the designated times, and we didn't have enough money or were even allowed to buy food on our own. The seminary provided good food and we ate everything we got. After the evening game of basketball we felt so hungry and the long evening prayer was our "prayer for the meals." I believe I still hold the record for eating chappathis (It is a kind of Indian bread like naan, but different - it's made from wheat flour). You may not believe this, but one time I ate thirty-four chappathis with chicken curry, and another friend ate thirty two! After eating this many chappathis my friend went to bed and woke up normally for next day's game. The Catholic Church saved some money when he left the seminary before completing the philosophy course! I became more "normal" after few years. Now it may take a week for me to eat that much food!

The Sisters were in charge of the kitchen, infirmary, and library. We used different techniques to have more whenever we were given soft-boiled eggs and plantains with breakfast. With small holes on both sides of the eggs we could suck out everything inside and then later we gave them back saying that it was spoiled. The sisters would then provide new ones! Same with the bananas - we peeled them carefully without anybody noticing we had taken the fruits. But once, when they ran short of bananas and eggs, they recycled what we gave them to other tables and then they found out that we were fooling them. Sisters forgave us more easily than the priests for our "sins."

That year, as an experiment to teach us how to cook, we were put in charge of the kitchen. This was also with the purpose giving a day off to the kitchen employees. But the seminary stopped this practice when they found out that we were "expensive, inexperienced cooks."

I successfully completed my philosophy training in 1991 and was ready to start the next step in my formation. The sixth year in the seminary is a crucial step for us since it is a time for us to discern our vocation carefully. The whole year is spent in different parishes to get to know people and to get practical lessons from the priests with whom we are staying.

Read part 10 of Fr. Mathew's seminary story
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