A NEW GENERATION OF PRIESTS; CAMARILLO SEMINARY OFTEN HOSTS OLDER STUDENTS.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

Tim Klosterman came into his own as a teen-ager, starring on the football and swimming teams in high school, partying and surfing with friends in his free time. And then, at 19, he found God.

Bob Garon was a stand-up comic with a girlfriend who tried to fill that empty space inside by dabbling in different religions. And then, at 37, he heard God's call to serve the Catholic church.

A new generation of priests - survivors of a worldly life - are finding their way to a spiritual life at a time when the Roman Catholic church faces a shortage of young men willing to dedicate their lives to serving God.

Klosterman and Garon are among the men heading to St. John's Seminary in Camarillo this fall.

Traditionally, the seminary drew on a steady stream of local Catholic school graduates, youths who seemingly were born to the calling.

Today, seminarians are more likely to have lived life as adults in the secular world - even built careers - than to have known since their childhood catechism class that they would become priests.

``I realized there was something more I could be contributing,'' said Garon, a Simi Valley man who is midway through his undergraduate work and has six years to go before being considered for the priesthood.

``I realized I was missing something. I was on the outside looking in.''

Built 60 years ago in the hills overlooking Camarillo, St. John's Seminary prepares men for the priesthood in Los Angeles, now the nation's largest diocese, and the surrounding Southwestern states.

The stately, old main building hardly hints at the contemporary priests being formed at the school, which counts Cardinal Roger Mahony as an alumnus. It has worked to keep pace with the diverse community it serves, welcoming midlife students once dissuaded from attending, writing technology grants for Internet access, and tackling issues like celibacy with support classes for students.

When the summer session comes to a close and regular classes resume in fall, the halls will fill with more than 175 American and foreign-born men. About half come from the Pacific Rim, and about half are pursuing a religious vocation after years of secular living.

``Today, the seminary reflects the multicultural life of a global village,'' said Monsignor Jeremiah J. McCarthy, 51, a former student who took over as rector of the theological school in 1994. ``We look to prepare them in a way that's integrated and holistic, and a way that's collaborative.''

Changing values

It was a different era when the seminary opened in 1938 on 100 lush acres donated by Don Juan Camarillo. Boys knew at an early age whether they would join the church and high school seminaries sent a steady stream of graduates to St. John's.

``People sort of made up their minds younger in the Depression,'' said Monsignor John Hughes, 74, the pastor at St. Mary Magdalene's Church in Camarillo, who entered St. John's as a teen-ager in 1942. ``You sort of grew up older.''

When Our Lady Queen of the Angels Seminary High School in Mission Hills - the last of the area's junior seminaries - closed after the 1994 earthquake, the traditional system of priestly formation came to a virtual standstill.

National studies report that while one-third of young Catholics express an interest in the religious life, just 6 percent actually pursue a vocation. And even as the church struggles to close that gap, it has had to deal with the repercussions of highly publicized sex scandals that stigmatized the priesthood.

``The hope is the situation has stabilized,'' said the Rev. Timothy Reker, director of the U.S. bishop's office for vocations and priestly formation. ``We hope to build on that slowly and surely and increase the number of students.''

Garon, a struggling Hollywood actor and comic, was raised as a Catholic and tried on religions from Buddhism to Scientology but had sidelined churchgoing for much of his adult life. Then a reunion with more religiously observant relatives left him longing for a spiritual livelihood.

Spiritual experience

He started attending an area church, St. Peter Claver in Simi Valley, and was working as a salesman when he felt the time had come to consider the priesthood. He entered St. John's in 1996.

He's heard the skepticism from those who wonder why he wants to become a priest but also has seen the enthusiasm on the faces of friends when he shares his belief in his faith.

He knows it will be a difficult journey, but Garon has an unyielding conviction it is a trip he must try to make.

``You take it one step at a time,'' Garon said. ``If I continue to hear God calling me, I'm going to be there.''

Before the 1960s, when the Second Vatican Council brought fundamental changes to the way men prepare to become priests, St. John's allowed no newspapers or off-campus excursions. Students, typically straight out of high school, lived on a daily regimen of prayer and study, without the professional internships and social interaction of seminarians today.

``It was like a monastery; we never left it,'' said Hughes, the Camarillo pastor. ``A lot of time was spent trying to develop spirituality. We were sort of anxious to get out there and share it.''

These days, the guys - as seminarians often call themselves - are likely to have dinner off campus instead of at the coffee-shop-like campus cafeteria, or to take summer jobs to repay student loans for their $16,000-a-year tuition.

A 30-Plus Program offers older students a special course of academic study, and a field-education program sends seminarians into community-service jobs for real-life work experience.

On Friday evenings during the school year, undergrads have been known to break out their guitars for a jam session in one of the dorms named after famous saints, belting out hits from the Eagles, Jackson Browne and Jars of Clay.

When Jane Klosterman thinks of her son among them, she is filled with hope that her youngest child will find peace in the priesthood.

``(I) just want what's best for him,'' said Klosterman, a former religious-education teacher who was surprised by her son's career choice. ``Every step of the way, he just needs to pray and follow his heart.''

Recruiting candidates

But the Klosterman family is the exception among a Catholic church population that recruiters say no longer encourages the priesthood as it once did, requiring increasingly innovative ways to nudge men to the calling.

From elementary school vocation workshops to a new CD-ROM describing the religious life, the archdiocese is seeking to reach out to the one-third of Catholic youths who have considered religious life.

During his long talks with applicants over meals and formal interviews when they come to the diocese, church officials try to figure out if the man would make a good priest. It's a long process, typically taking up to 200 candidates to find a class of 20 seminarians.

``Sometimes it's more exciting, sometimes it's more depressing,'' said the Rev. Dick Martini, the Los Angeles Archdiocese's vocational director. ``This year, especially, I actually thought I was going to get 35 men in the seminary.''

Instead, the school enrolled just 17.

For a school that includes top regional Catholic leaders among its alumnus, including Mahony and Tod Brown, the newly appointed bishop of the Orange County Diocese, today's students carry a legacy and a reputation that expects them to become tomorrow's leaders.

It's a tall order for men who, like those during Mahony's era in the class of '62, are simply trying to fulfill their spiritual calling, with no hint of where the church will send them or what their lives will become.

``There's no way, even today, you could prepare a student for what he would actually experience as a priest,'' said George, the Thousand Oaks pastor, who recalled that era when he and Mahony were classmates at St. John's.

Years later, when both men had returned to the seminary for a special event, Mahony agreed. ``He turned to me: Joe, could you ever imagine anything like this?'' George recalled. ``We just didn't have a clue.''

Big decision

Almost 20, Klosterman isn't sure what will become of his time at St. John's - whether he'll actually go on to become a priest or choose another lifestyle.

It was on a retreat with young monks that the once painfully shy boy - who went on to become captain of his high school football and swimming teams - found solace in the religious way of life. He realized it was his faith that had been the guiding factor through his youth, and he wants to know if it will be his calling for the rest of his life.

So on breaks from his summer job at a local swimming pool, Klosterman has visited the campus, considering his vocation and checking out the prime local surfing spots where he hopes to spend his free time.

``I really feel called to this,'' he said. ``And I know God will help me.''

QUESTIONNAIRE

One of the first steps men take in the process to enter the seminary is to complete an application for the Archdiocese's vocation assessment team. Here are a few of the questions asked:

How long have you been aware of your desire to be a priest, and to what and/or whom do you attribute this desire?

What do you think is the greatest contribution you personally can make as a priest?

What is your family's response to your decision to enter the seminary?

Describe your social life.

Are you now free of any relationships which would hinder you from entering fully into our seminary program (including minor children)?

How have you handled your past financial concerns?

The Vatican Council II of 1963 set the church in a direction which would lead her into the present age. What is the best thing, in your estimation, about the contemporary church?

What do you think is the worst thing about the contemporary church?

What current social issue(s) pose a question to you and what is your opinion about it (them)?

SOURCE: Office of Vocations

CAPTION(S):

7 Photos, Chart, Box

PHOTO (1--Color--Ran in Valley Edition only) Bob Garon, 37, is part of a new breed of Catholic that is turning to the priesthood later in life.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News

(2--Color--Ran in Valley Edition only) Monsignor Kevin Kostelnik celebrates Mass at St. John's Seminary, which has seen its student body change over the years.

(3--Color in Valley Edition only) Students celebrate Mass at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo. Since its founding 60 years ago, the seminary has reached out to form a more multicultural student body.

(4--Color--Ran in Valley Edition only) The Rev. Jack Stoeger and Sister Cecilia Canales sing as student Binh Nguyen accompanies on guitar.

(5--Color--Ran in Conejo and Simi Editions only) Gustavo Castillo of Inglewood prays during a recent afternoon Mass at St. John's in Camarillo. The seminary is drawing many candidates for the priesthood who have previously led largely secular lives.

(6--Ran in Conejo and Simi Editions only) Thinh Pham, wearing a crucifix ring, prays with Scripture at St. John's Seminary. The Camarillo site counts Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, as an alumnus.

(7--Ran in Conejo Edition only) Students at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo engage in a group discussion.

Evan Yee/Daily News

CHART: CATHOLICS IN L.A.

In the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which includes Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, the Catholic population has nearly doubled over the past 20 years and followed a steady rise in church membership.

BOX: QUESTIONNAIRE (see text)

Gregg Miller/Daily News