Some parents express anxiety about what may happen if their son leaves the seminary before completing its course of studies and formation program.

It is possible that your son could spend as few as five days or as many as five years in seminary and discern that a life of single-hearted service in the Church is not the vocation God is calling him to.

There is nothing wrong or shameful about withdrawing from the seminary and the diocese's program for priestly formation for this reason.  The time any young man spent in formation should never be considered a waste. Your son will have grown in holiness, self-awareness, and in personal maturity through the entire process of discernment and by his time in a formation program.  He, his future and the Church are sure to be enriched by the experience.