Surfing around the internet, I stumbled upon a terrific new design for the website for Florida Catholic, which serves several dioceses in the Sunshine State. It’s bright, user-friendly, beautifully designed, and eminently readable. And among the choice nuggets this week is an inspiring vocation story from Palm Beach:

Tom Lafreniere heard God calling him to the priesthood and for years answered the same way: not yet.

His response changed when he hit his mid-30s. He entered the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in the fall of 2003.

“I thought I was too old. I realized there are men older than myself in the seminary. I said, ‘Why not?’ A lot of us older guys bring skills that some people may not have,” said Lafreniere, now 40 and one of 16 seminarians studying at various levels and institutions to become priests of the Diocese of Palm Beach.

The Florida Catholic interviewed Lafreniere and people who have watched his vocation unfold in anticipation of Vocation Awareness Sunday, Oct. 14.

“My goal right now is to get to my ordination as a priest,” said Lafreniere, who is scheduled to be ordained as a transitional deacon in April 2008 at St. Ann Parish in West Palm Beach, where he served a year as part of seminarian responsibilities. Usually, priestly ordination comes about one year later.

According to seminary professors, Lafreniere is an excellent student and a good priest candidate.

“Tom has amazed me with the excellent grasp of what I have taught him, at times really leaving me speechless after reading one of his final exams,” said professor Emilio Chavez. “He also has a remarkable capacity for work. Besides this, he is quiet, circumspect and prudent.”

Several experiences led Lafreniere to consider the priesthood.

“My father had a close relationship with several men who had answered a religious vocation,” he said about his father, Al, a resident of Connecticut with the seminarian’s mother, Gloria.

“I believe that the presence of these men and the openness with which my parents accepted them, made it easy for me to accept a religious vocation as a viable option. Also, I remember feeling something special about participating in the Mass as an altar boy. Even in my childhood, I understood that something special was taking place.”

Lafreniere, who attended Xavier High School in Middletown, Conn., run by the Xaverian brothers, said his home was always a place of prayer.

“We always said a prayer of thanksgiving before meals, and when my brothers — I have two — and I were growing up, we would also have family prayer. Really, all of these factors contributed to my openness to the priesthood.”

Read the rest to find out how he finally found his way into the seminary. And whisper a prayer for him and men like him.

Photo: Seminarian Tom Lafreniere, right, attends Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary with his mother, Gloria, and father, Al, who were visiting from Connecticut for a family event. By Linda Reeves / Florida Cathoic