The Columbus Dispatch has done something quite remarkable — and possibly, unprecedented — for a secular paper, devoting a lot of ink and newsprint to a series following a year in the life of seminarian.

The entire series (so far), complete with pictures, can be found right here.

An excerpt, from Tuesday’s installment:

Traffic snaked along N. High Street near I-270 in a bumper-to-bumper line of frustration as the sun rose over the Pontifical College Josephinum.

The taillight-flashing bustle of commuters contrasted with the serenity a few hundred yards away, where students flowed quietly into a chapel inside the seminary’s College of Liberal Arts building.

Some carried Bibles, others small prayer books. Each was bleary-eyed and silent.

The mid-February morning was like every morning for those men studying to be Roman Catholic priests at the Vatican-owned school on the North Side.

The students were gathering for the 7:30 a.m. recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, a quick prayer they also gather to say in the evening – and offer in private three other times each day.

“It sets a rhythm to your day,” said Deacon Robert Bolding, a fourth-year theologian assigned this day to lead the undergraduates in prayer. “It sanctifies time.”

To help replenish its thinning ranks, the Catholic church needs men willing to dedicate nearly a decade to priestly training that is disciplined, demanding and, at times, as slow as a stalactite’s growth.

“That’s one of the great challenges,” said the Rev. Jeff Coning, vocations director for the Diocese of Columbus. “That’s eight years that you need a student to sit there and work, and kids today are used to living life by a Palm Pilot. “

Seminarians say the adjustment doesn’t come easy, and even those close to becoming priests struggle at times with the rigid structure.

“It’s like a real, long boot camp,” said Robert, a Phoenix native. “Sometimes, I feel choked by the whole routine of it.”

His routine has been basically the same – prayer, Mass, classes, homework – since he entered the University of St. Thomas College Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., eight years ago, and enrolled in the Josephinum’s School of Theology in 2005.

To describe seminary life, he uses the analogy of a tree being surrounded by other trees: it only has one place to grow, and that’s up.

“It helps discipline your soul and helps us grow to God,” Robert said. “That’s the value of formation and living accordingly to the external rules. That’s part of what makes you a priest. That’s part of learning obedience and self-sacrifice. But it gets old.”Robert, 27, lived his final seminary year alone in an undecorated room without a TV or stereo (although Josephinum rules permit both) in a dorm hall with a community bathroom.

He owned few clothes other than his black clerical garb. He drove his parents’ car because he has never owned one.

“Somebody sets my schedule,” said Robert, bound by the Josephinum’s curfew of 11 p.m. weeknights and midnight on weekends. “If I miss something, I have to have an excuse. It’s understandable why it has to be like that in the seminary, but I’m approaching 30.”

Still, Robert considered seminary life to be a great blessing, enabling him time to concentrate on studying and discerning God’s call.

Each Josephinum student is assigned a Director of Spiritual Formation from the faculty to help guide him through the four pillars of formation – spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human – directed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“You spend hours in prayer to give your will over to God: Is this what you want for me?” Robert said.

Mystery is part of that divine process and also part of this place.

Check out the rest — including more pictures, video and an interactive multimedia site. Very impressive. And very well done, too.

Kudos to the Dispatch, reporter Todd Jones, videographer Kristen Russo, and photographer Fred Squillante for presenting this story with such evident thoughtfulness and care. I look forward to the rest of the series.

PHOTO: Robert Bolding takes part in the “Liturgy of the Hours” evening prayers with fellow theologians in March. (Dispatch photo by Fred Squillante).