It's Never Too Late -- Man, 73, Begins New Career As Priest In Yakima County

JIM SPEZZANO has played many roles: teacher, business owner, soldier, family man. But now, in his eighth decade, he has heeded the silent call he first heard long ago - to become a priest. -----------------------------------------------------------------

At an age when most people are well into retirement, 73-year-old Jim Spezzano has embarked on a new career: priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.

"This is the first time in my life that I felt that I'm supposed to be doing what I'm doing," said the Rev. Spezzano, who was ordained recently at Yakima's St. Paul Cathedral. "There's been no doubt in my mind this is what I've been called to do."

Spezzano, who now serves at St. Joseph Church in Sunnyside, Yakima County, has lived a full life. He served in the Army during World War II, taught high school for 13 years, worked in the supermarket business and owned a convenience store, bakery, catering service and auto-parts business.

He has suffered through his young son's illness and death and raised two daughters with his wife, Ethel, who died in 1987.

Grief, compassion and laughter

Celebrating 25 years as a priest may not be in Spezzano's future, but the Diocese of Yakima believes he offers parishioners compassion and a profound understanding of what many of them go through.

Creases surrounding Spezzano's eyes reflect his constantly joking nature. For him, laughter and a good sense of humor are essentials of life.

At the Connecticut seminary he attended, he thought some of the younger students were far too solemn. So he posted on his door an Aldous Huxley quote that read, "People are much too serious. I'm all in favor of sticking pins in Episcopal behinds."

The slogan that helped get him elected president of his seminary class was "Wine at every meal."

But Spezzano is no stranger to grief.

On his desk sits a large, framed, black-and-white portrait of him with his sick 3-year-old son, Anthony. Seated on his father's lap, the boy stares out unhappily, almost angrily. The child had cancer of the kidney and died two weeks after the photo was taken.

"See that look in his eye?" he asked, picking up the picture. "It's the bewilderment of `What is happening to my body?' "

Spezzano paused for a long while, then said quietly, "He died in '59. That's about 40 years, but you never forget."

The death of a loved one, especially a child, can strengthen your faith or destroy it, Spezzano said. In his case, the tragedy made him more aware of the frailty of human life.

"If you don't believe," he asked, rocking softly in his chair, "well, what is there?"

A native of New Kensington, Pa., Spezzano believes he first felt the call to priesthood when he left the military in 1945 at age 25.

He had read "The Seven Story Mountain," by Trappist monk Thomas Merton, about his conversion to Catholicism.

"But I didn't know how to implement that desire," he said. "So I just put it aside and went to school. I guess we all have our own spiritual journey."

After earning a bachelor's degree in business administration, he began to manage supermarkets. At one point, he ran his own fruit and produce stand. He went on to earn a master's degree in education administration, and began to teach business and marketing in high school.

The job was stressful. He was also busy running his convenience store. He developed ulcers that, at age 55, became so bad he quit teaching to devote full time to his store. A year later, he opened an auto-parts store, a bakery and a catering service.

Spezzano did well, but the enterprises never brought a sense of fulfillment. When his wife died, he began thinking about entering a monastery.

Spezzano said monastic life, rather than secular priesthood, appealed to him then. The challenge of "trying to be holy in a world that is so unholy" seemed too great.

"The world was too much for me to overcome. The good life, women, working to make a big buck, forgetting what God teaches." He paused.

"You know, I like women. I'm a big flirt."

But God's plans were not always clear, he said.

About five years ago, he got the call. Spezzano had been praying at his church, Mount St. Peter's in New Kensington, about midnight. The peaceful silence had transported him from the distractions of the world.

"I was very happy there, content," he said. "It seemed that God spoke to me and told me to become a priest."

A search for a seminary

The odds are against anyone beginning a new career after retirement age. Among other factors, businesses consider medical-insurance costs and the number of years an employee can give the company. Dioceses are no exception.

Spezzano was crushed when he was told the local seminary would not accept him. "I felt like a rejected lover."

Although Spezzano could pay for his education, the seminary would not accept candidates over 50.

A year later, Spezzano found a seminary specializing in the training of older men. He was accepted to the Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.

The Rev. Eusube Menard founded the seminary in 1955 on the philosophy that older men can bring rich life experiences to the priesthood.

At 68, Spezzano was still an anomaly. Most of the other students at Holy Apostles were from 35 to 55 years old. But Spezzano brought an energy and spirit that impressed Monsignor John Ecker of St. Paul Cathedral.

"He had the enthusiasm and zeal of a man half his age," said Ecker, who met Spezzano when recruiting in November 1993.

The diocese believes in giving people the opportunity to serve if they've been called, Ecker said. Within the past four years, it has ordained five second-vocation men in their late 30s or older.

Maria McCalister, Spezzano's youngest daughter, says her father will make an empathetic and exemplary priest.

"He's walked in many shoes," she said from her New Kensington home. "His world crumbled many times, and he's picked himself up."