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  Seminaries to Be a Part of Vatican Evaluation

By Ann Rodgers arodgers@post-gazette.com
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 18, 2005

Three Western Pennsylvania seminaries will be evaluated during the next five months in a Vatican study prompted by the Catholic sexual abuse scandals that erupted in 2002.

U.S. bishops requested the study, which will examine the psychological, spiritual, intellectual and sexual factors that shape priests.

One of the study's 55 questions -- and one of only six mandatory ones -- concerns whether there is "evidence of homosexuality in the seminary." This has drawn fire from those who fear that the evaluation is a witch hunt to purge gay seminarians.

"The Vatican continues to be obsessed about homosexuality," said Debbie Weill, executive director of DignityUSA, a group for gay Catholics.

"The church is fostering a climate of hostility towards some of its very best priests and bishops. This is not the church Christ called us to be," she said.

But local seminary rectors say the study will evaluate the full range of requirements for priesthood. The consideration of homosexuality may be more nuanced than it appears on paper, said the Rev. James Wehner, rector of St. Paul Seminary in East Carnegie, where Pittsburgh's undergraduate seminarians live.

"It's not a black-and-white issue," Wehner said.

The study focuses on what the church calls "human formation" -- cultivating the character and conduct expected of a priest, said the Rev. Kurt Belsole, rector of St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, where 68 students are doing graduate work.

"It means they have to be a good human being before they can be a good priest," he said.

The church speaks of "formation" rather than "education" because seminary training is supposed to go beyond academics, to shape a soul and personality. In addition to classes, St. Vincent seminarians attend 10 conferences each semester on topics such as celibate life, the virtue of courage, and cultivating a habit of prayer.

Belsole is "very confident" that his school will receive a glowing report.

Three years ago St. Vincent did its own evaluation of how it lined up against the 1992 Vatican document on priestly formation.

"We are doing everything they asked us to," he said.

The visitation begins this month and continues through next year. Ss. Cyril & Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary on the North Side, which has seven Eastern Catholic students, will receive the first local visit Nov. 6-11. St. Vincent will be visited Jan. 15-20. St. Paul, with 11 seminarians, is scheduled for Feb. 5-11.

A 2004 study of child molestation accusations against priests revealed that 4,392 priests were accused of molesting 10,667 minors between 1950 and 2002, with the bulk of offenses in the 1970s. The fact that 81 percent of the victims were male, coupled with reports of a "gay culture" at some seminaries, led some bishops and Vatican officials to conclude that the underlying problem was homosexuality. There have been reports that the Vatican plans to ban gay men from seminary.

But there have been mixed signals. In April 2003 top Vatican officials heard presentations from eight international experts on pedophilia, who said that homosexuality did not cause men to molest minors. Consequently, some sources say the Vatican has backed off a complete ban.

But Archbishop Edward O'Brien of the Military Archdiocese, who is overseeing the seminary study, said last week that it would be better if gay men did not apply to seminary.

"The pressures are strong in an all-male atmosphere," he said. "And if there have been past failings, the church really must stay on the safe side . . . The same-sex attractions have gotten us into some legal problems."

Wehner cautioned against reading too much into O'Brien's remarks.

"He is being very general. I would not challenge what he said, but I think we need to be more specific. You can have an orientation and never engage in homosexual acts. And you can have some young man who has too much to drink and engages in perversions he never would otherwise. That doesn't mean he's gay," Wehner said.

Nearly 120 bishops and priests have been trained to carry out the visitations. There are 229 seminaries, and each visit is to last at least four days. The visitors are to confidentially interview all faculty and students, and give all graduates of the past three years the opportunity for an interview.

Their secret report is to be submitted to the Vatican, which will draft an evaluation for the local bishop or religious superior, who can challenge its findings before a final report is issued. A general letter to the U.S. bishops will give an overall assessment of "current priestly formation in the USA."

The point stressed most strongly in the 11-page working document is that the local bishop or superior is ultimately responsible for evaluating his seminarians, and that he must get to know them. There have been reports of U.S. bishops who do not meet their seminarians until they are on the verge of ordination.

"The bishop will not fail to visit the seminary frequently," the document says.

"On the basis of these direct contacts he will ensure that the seminaries form mature and balanced personalities, men capable of establishing sound human and pastoral relationships, knowledgeable in theology, solid in the spiritual life, and in love with the church."

The six mandatory questions concern whether psychological testing is used for admission, whether students or faculty "have concerns about the moral life of those living in the institution," whether there is "evidence of homosexuality in the seminary," whether there is "adequate formation" for a life of "celibate chastity," whether seminarians are "capable of dialoguing, on the intellectual level, with contemporary society."

The final one concerns whether the seminary checks for canonical "impediments or irregularities for Holy Orders" -- such as a psychiatric illness or a severely troubled history in a past marriage that was annulled -- especially among older candidates.

The other 49 range from whether authoritative church teaching is promoted and accepted to how seminarians conduct themselves off campus. One asks whether the seminary teaches "a proper understanding of the role of women in ecclesial life."

That doesn't mean only explaining the ban on women's ordination, but making sure that the seminarians appreciate and support all that women can do in the church, Wehner said.

"Eighty percent of the church is run by women, so we have to be able to work with women, and those relationships have to be healthy and appropriate," he said.

Wehner believes that St. Paul "exceeds the standards."

Applicants are rigorously evaluated before admission, and are re-evaluated at numerous points along the way, Wehner said. For at least 20 years the school has used an outside psychologist to conduct a battery of psychological tests. Confidential evaluations from people who know the candidate well are gathered before admission and before ordination, he said.

"I conduct the personal history interview. We talk about everything from use of drugs to dating experiences," Wehner said.

"They might be very pastoral, but are they capable of living a celibate life that is happy, healthy and holy? We don't want unhappy celibates."

Wehner said he has sent men away because they lacked the maturity or other personal qualities necessary for priesthood. One issue he looks closely at is whether they have friends their own age, since failure to mature emotionally has been linked to child sexual abuse and other problems.

Wehne does not think that good men who happen to be shy or eccentric will be rejected in the zeal to keep out the unfit.

"This is not a test of who has the best social skills. We're looking at dysfunction, rather than awkwardness or quirkiness," he said.

(Ann Rodgers can be reached at arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.)

 
 

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