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	Gay Priest in Bay Area Fears Agenda of Vatican Officials Papal Committees Reviewing Area Seminaries Question Students about Homosexuality By Katya Kumkova-Wolpert Inside Bay Area [Menlo Park CA] October 23, 2005 MENLO PARK — A group of Vatican reviewers visited the St. Patrick's Seminary campus last week to review its admission procedures and performance. "Their aim is to see how our program is going," Assistant Rector the Rev. Fred Cwiekoski said. "It's their committee, not ours. They will be reporting to their commission in the Vatican." St. Patrick's is one of 229 American seminaries to receive a so-called papal visitation. A papal committee will review the Jesuit School of Theology at UC Berkeley in February. The visits were conceived in 2002 in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals that began in Boston and spread to dozens of diocese throughout the country. But advocates of reform in the Catholic Church say the Vatican has used the review to promote its anti-gay agenda. "It seems to be a simple solution. Let's target the gays because nobody likes them anyway. That way, we will have done something. But they won't really have done anything," said "Father James," a Bay Area priest and a member of the Berkeley-based National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries. Father James says he is gay and did not want to give his real name. Vatican officials confirmed this week that Pope Benedict XVI plans to ban all homosexuals from entering the seminaries. This will include those who do not have sex with other men. "The rumor is that there will be no more gay seminarians admitted, but the priests who are already there and gay can stay. But you don't feel secure. You can't help but ask yourself, am I next?" Father James said. United States Catholic Church officials tried to separate the discussion on sexuality from the upcoming visitations. "The question on homosexuality is one in 56," said Maury Healy, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. "It's not a witch hunt. It's a way of making sure that the seminaries are doing a proper job of training." The reviewers will hold one-on-one interviews with all seminarians, faculty and recent graduates at St. Patrick's. Some of the questions are likely to focus on the school's admissions policy.
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