The start of a long road

29 October 1901

20-year-old Ted McGrath arrives at the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart seminary at Kensington, NSW.

He has spent the past four years working as a porter and clerk with Victorian Railways. Believing he has a vocation, Ted has been receiving Latin lessons from a friendly priest but his lack of schooling or the financial means to support himself through the seminary seems to be an insurmountable obstacle.

He reads an advertisement placed by the MSC welcoming late vocations. Keen to fill the recently-opened seminary at Kensington, Provincial Rev. Peter Treand is unperturbed by Ted’s age and basic education.