http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/09/tom-cruise-was-on-track-to-become-a-priest-in-his-youth.html

What's sad is that TC's entire family were Catholics and there were persistent rumors in the 90s that TC ordered his family to join him in Los Angeles & to become Scientologists, or he would disconnect from them.

Cass was the owner of a successful restaurant in New Jersey at the time, and ditched it to join her brother. I know for a fact that his mother Mary Lee walked out of her marriage with Tom's stepfather, Joseph South, at their home on Marcos Island, FL. Residents on the island reported that Mary Lee was very active in the community and a faithful parishioner of the Catholic Church there.

The residents said that Mary Lee "just disappeared". Her ex-husband, Joseph South, said that TC ordered him to move to LA & join Scientology, or his mother would divorce him. He chose divorce because he quietly enjoyed retirement in Florida and playing golf.

Tom joining the seminary for a year makes for a great PR line but is there any proof to it? Like which seminary or anyone there remember him? I've always wondered about the veracity of that oft repeated claim.

The article calls it a seminary, but it's more like a prep school for boys planning to be priests.

There are college seminaries and theological seminaries in the Catholic Church. Those entering studies for the priesthood, that already have a Bachelors degree from an accredited college, enter the theological (or advanced) seminary... they graduate with a Masters of Divinity before becoming ordained priests.

Because Tom didn't have a college degree, he attended a college seminary. The priest that remember him is a Franciscan, now posted in Indiana.