At the age of 18, Israel Perez hung a cross from his neck chain and wore it to his workplace, the cafeteria at Radio Rebelde in Havana.

He wasn't entirely sure about Roman Catholicism but found it more fun than communism.

Although he tried to keep the cross concealed from his supervisors, the pendant could be seen through his white cook's uniform. It identified him as a practicing Catholic, he said, and caused him enough problems that he had to resign his job.

Today he is one of 85 men training at San Carlos Seminary in Havana to become Cuba's first priests of the next millennium.

At age 27, Perez belongs to a generation of young converts who chose the priesthood knowing they would take a different path from that of older priests. He and his fellow seminarians were born within the socialist system, enjoyed its advantages, suffered its limitations, were disappointed by it and now are experts in both dialectical materialism and the word of God.

Time for a choice

These facets of his background are apostolic weapons that, according to Perez, do not imply open defiance of the political system, much less a message of social rebellion.

``My task is to reach the inner person so the transformation may begin within,'' Perez said. ``The time has come for Cubans to make a choice. The church illuminates, the church preaches the truth despite the risks -- and the truth is human dignity.''

Perez's conversion evolved as he became disenchanted with the system. The Mariel exodus in 1980, when his father left for Miami, etched images in Perez's mind that helped him detect the failures of a society that was supposed to be a model to the world.

He graduated from high school but dropped out of college, choosing instead to become a stretcher-bearer at several hospitals in Havana. His religious training was practically nonexistent.

``The Cuban family always believed in God,'' he said, ``but when the Revolution came, the pictures of the Sacred Heart were stored away in grandmother's closet and replaced by portraits of Che.''

Religious hints

Perez was not a member of the Communist Party. He led his life like any other skeptic, gravitating from girls to parties to studies. After he turned 18, some neighborhood friends in Centro Habana began to slip religious references into their conversations. Once they saw he was interested, they suggested he attend the Church of the Virgin of Charity.

Perez did, and after a while took his first communion. Four years later, he decided to enter the seminary.

``The process of conversion was not difficult,'' he said. ``When I came into the church, I already could perceive the failings of the system, not only in government but also in education. What the church did was to help me see more clearly those contradictions.''

Perez's experience is similar to that of other seminary students. Most of them are young men from the provinces who converted to Catholicism in adulthood, on their own, said Gustavo Londoño, a priest and professor of scripture at the seminary.

``Their families did not teach them religion out of fear,'' he said. ``Their upbringing was materialistic, Marxist and atheistic. But by discovering the faith, they've discovered a purpose. They've realized that [their upbringing] gave them only a partial concept of the world.''

Double the number

In recent years, the number of seminarians has been on the increase. When Londoño arrived in Cuba from Colombia in 1993, there were 42 seminarians. By the end of 1997, the handsome building next to the Malecon was home to 85. There, they are given education, room and board.

Londoño does not discard the possibility that, because of the tough economic situation on the island, some of the young men see the seminary as a means of subsistence and perhaps a springboard to other lands.

``It's up to us to help the young men to decide if their vocation is sincere,'' Londoño said. ``We have eight years in which to do it, because that's how long the training lasts.''

So what's the explanation for the growth in the clerical vocation?

``There's an awakening, a religious flourishing in Cuba,'' the priest said. ``Cubans are religious people who didn't have a chance to express their religiousness. Now the government has given them some room, and the pressure against those who joined the Church has eased. Now people acknowledge their Christianity.''