Peter Street is the only
seminarian progressing through his formation to become a priest within
the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, reports The Maitland Mercury.
'I’m it. I am the entire student body and I
haven’t known anything different, so I don’t have anything to compare it
to,' he said. 'But there have been times in the past few years, for
obvious reasons, when it would have been nice to have had somebody to
talk to.'
Mr Street, 33, was educated through the public
school system. The priesthood, he recalls, beckoned from an early age.
'I was quite young, a child, when I realised this is what I wanted to
do. I remember being at Mass one day and being very, very impressed with
the parish priest and thinking what a good man he was and I wanted to
be like that and live a life of service for others,' he said.
'And this feeling just didn’t go away despite
me trying to make it go away for some time. But I realised I needed to
respond positively to the call from God.'
A call the former nurse believes will now include a large role in helping those in the aftermath of horrific clergy abuse.