Not long ago, a reader wrote in and asked if I knew of any places for a man with a late vocation. I directed him to this seminary, in Massachusetts. And now a local paper has done a story about a 62-year-old who’s about to be ordained from there:

Bill Korpi has been in the Army. He was married for 35 years. He raised a son and had a career in the financial industry.

Next stop: the priesthood.

Korpi, 62, is what they call a “second vocation” priest — a man who led one life before being called to another in the Catholic Church. He is the kind of person the church is hoping will help replenish the dwindling number of priests available to serve parishes across the country.

Korpi has been a deacon at Sacred Hearts Parish since 2006 and has made the decision to dive completely into religious life. Because his wife has died, church rules allow him to move from the limited position of deacon and become a priest.

“I believe that one reason why God let me go through what I’ve gone through is that I’ll encounter people who are going through many of the things I went through in life,” Korpi said. “I’ll have a sense of empathy and compassion with widows who’ve lost their husbands and widowers who’ve lost their wives. I’ll be able to listen to them with a deep sense of understanding I would not have if not given the gifts I’ve had in life — the joy of marriage and parenting a son.”

Korpi is in his fourth and final year attending the Blessed John 23rd Seminary in Weston and hopes to be ordained as a Catholic priest in June. He spends his weekends at Sacred Hearts, helping at Masses, children’s religious classes and social events.

“A little girl in one of the Catholic education classes I teach said to me one day, ‘Deacon Bill, what took God so long to call you?”‘ he said. “I told her that God wanted me to be ordained now, not 30 years ago.”

Those 30 years and the events he experienced before that prepared Korpi to become a priest. Without them, he would not be ready, he said.

The Rev. Robert Conole, pastor of Sacred Hearts, said Korpi represents a growing trend: men who answer the call to God later in life.

“I was a public school teacher in Bedford before I entered the seminary at age 28,” Conole said. “It’s kind of a trend, these second-career vocations.”

When Conole was ordained in 1991, there were about 1,300 priests in the Boston Archdiocese. Now, he said, there are fewer than 500.

“I think that in the last few years, the sex-abuse scandal has dissuaded some men from thinking about it, so it played a role,” Conole said. “Others could be dissuaded by the issue of celibacy, while others say it’s a lonely life. You can counter some of that loneliness by being proactive and creative.”

As a deacon, Korpi is exposed to rectory life and religious duties such as preaching at Sunday Mass and visiting local hospitals to anoint the sick.

“He pretty much shadows me when he’s here on weekends,” Conole said. “Deacon Bill is a wonderful guy. He’s kind, he’s got a wonderful sense of humor, he’s gentle, compassionate, and he’s motivated.”

There’s much more about his life — and his remarkable journey — at the link. Check it out. And keep him in your prayers.