A VOCATION ACCEPTED, NURTURED AND FULFILLED- final weeks in the making of a PRIEST OF GOD.

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More than six years ago Leo Coshan, at that time a regular rambler with a 
strong interest in Polish dancing broke the news that he believed he had a  vocation to be a mlssionary prlest with the SVD and had been accepted for his training in the novitiate of that order by St. David's College, Carrog. It was about this time that I began to serve the club as magazine editor and I
suggested to Leo that members would be interested to hear of his prccress and invited him to send regular reports of his eperiences in testing his vocation. He agreed and as a result those members who keep copies of their magazines have virtually a complete record of how a priest is made. 


It has net been easy fer Leo. He began his training at an age when learning no longer comes easy and his heart has on two occasions warned him to take things a little easier. The climax ef his efforts comes cn  January 10th when he will be ordained priest at Burslem. He must wait a little longer to begin his service as a missionary - he must first prove his fitness to face the rigours of missionary work by serving for a time as a priest in England.


His articles have baen sent with great regularity, missing only when he was 
under treatment for his heart attacks. They have been both interesting and informative and, at least to some readers, instructive and uplifting. To those who thought the preaching a little overdone for a magazine article I would say that I believe that in writing these essays Leo was making a positive step forward in his formation as a preacher and his accepted cornmitment to send regular articles into the magazine will have contributed in a meaningful way to making him the kind of priest he will become on January 10th. Madeleine and I saw him ordained deacon at Kilburnn in June. We would love to witnes his ordination to the f'ulI priesthood, but do not yet know if if wilI be possible as we are dependent on public transport.
Whether we can go or not, our prayers will be with him on this most important day af his life, when through him a new outlet for Christ's abundant Grace is created. We wish him well. 


JOHN LAWRENCE