Former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey has been accepted to an Episcopal seminary school in Manhattan with the intent of starting the process of being a priest.

McGreevey applied to study at the General Theological Seminary in New York, the oldest one of the Episcopal church.

McGreevey resigned from office in August 2004 after admitting he is gay and had cheated on his wife with a man he had hired to be his homeland security adviser. He is currently going through the "discernment" phase that precedes joining the seminary, Rev. Kevin Bean, vicar at St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan, told The Star-Ledger.

Click here to read The Star-Ledger article on McGreevey's plan.

"This process that he's in right now, is not going to be some snap of the finger, overnight process. That will not happen. That's not how it works. He knows that," Bean said. "And so at the parish level, and at the diocesan level, everyone knows that this is a process that ... intentionally is deliberate. You don't enter into it unadvisably."

Formerly a Catholic who had been at odds with the church over his support for abortion rights, McGreevey was officially received into the Episcopal religion on Sunday. The three-year program at General Theological Seminary begins in the fall.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.