Terrific! I can go to school today! Never, throughout fourteen years of formal education, followed by thirty-five years of teaching, did I ever believe those words would pass my lips. However, as has been observed before, never is a long, long time.

As thousands of baby boomers will soon discover, retirement initiates a whole new lifestyle.

Suddenly, there are no pressing demands on your time and your social circle is drastically depleted. Your horizons can easily shrink and you may find your life deteriorating into an utterly predictable round of visits to church, the library, the grocery store, club meetings and visits to the doctor. I soon decided this was not the way I wanted to spend my "golden years".

I had previously completed nine courses at Brock University, but I soon found that dealing with primary-aged children all day, working on course material all evening and trying to fulfill family responsibilities all at the same time was extremely frustrating. I wasn't able to give my best to any of these endeavors. I dropped the Brock courses with an incomplete B.A.

Soon after retirement, I enrolled in the satellite program of the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. The classes were held in my area. Ten courses later, I had obtained a Diploma in Theology and the opportunity to continue.

Higher education for Roman Catholic seniors, especially in the area of Theology has much to recommend it. Most people in this age group received their religious training in the pre-Vatican II Church. Speaking for myself, I was sadly in need of updating regarding rites, regulations and attitudes of the modern Church. All Christians are baptized to be priests, prophets and kings. If we hope to perform these functions effectively in our contemporary world we need the knowledge and methodology relevant to the current generation.

St. Michael's encourages its students to think for themselves and to express their opinions, no matter how extreme they may appear at first glance. I found this to be a liberating, exhilarating experience especially when compared to the strictly structured method of religious education prevalent when I was young.

The courses included study of the Old and New Testaments, Ethics, Social Justice, Ecology, Spirituality and educational methodology for every age group. I found each course interesting and relevant to everyday life both within the Christian community and as a responsible global citizen.

My classmates

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