In the first place We urge that the literary and scientific education of future priests be at least not inferior to that of laymen who take similar courses of study. In this way, not only will the seriousness of the intellectual training be assured but the choice of subjects also will be facilitated. Seminarians will feel themselves freer in the choice of their vocation and there will be warded off the danger that, through lack of sufficient cultural preparation which can assure a position in the world, one or the other student may feel himself in some way driven to take a path that is not his by following the reasoning of the unfaithful steward: “To dig I am not able, to beg I am ashamed”.75Luc., XVI, 3. If, then, it should happen that some student about whom good hopes were formed for his entering the Church should leave the seminary, this would not be a source of preoccupation, because later on the young man who succeeds in finding his path, would not be able to forget the benefits received in the seminary and by his activity would be able to make a notable contribution to the work of the Catholic laity.
TheoFons