DENVER (CO)
National Catholic Register
August 1, 2019
By Msgr. Andrew Baker and Fr. Carter Griffin
Many Catholics, understandably, have grown skeptical of seminary formation. After all, it is priests and bishops who have caused the scandal of clergy sexual abuse, and every one of them is a product of seminaries.
Sometimes it is presumed that little has changed in seminaries since the time, decades ago, when the vast majority of those abusive priests were formed. Professor Janet Smith recently published a commentary that rightly asks whether seminary reforms are authentic and lasting or simply “window dressing.”
As the rectors of two seminaries forming men for the priesthood today, we would like to offer our own perspective in order to throw some light on the present situation — because, in fact, a great deal has changed.
Admittedly, the complexities of any topic as sprawling as the formation of Catholic priests cannot be covered in a short essay like this. Our remarks apply mainly to diocesan seminaries in the United States and the North American College in Rome, for example, since we are most familiar with those. Even among those seminaries, reforms have not been uniform; some changes have probably been merely superficial, as Janet Smith surmises. Furthermore, even the most wholesome seminary environment does not guarantee that graduates will remain faithful, any more than a good family guarantees that every child will turn out well. We are therefore painting with a broad brush.
Nevertheless, despite these caveats, we emphatically believe that any impartial observer with all the facts would come to the same conclusion: Seminary admissions are far more stringent, and formation far more rigorous, than they were when the great majority of clerical sexual abusers were ordained. We believe this to be a source of hope and encouragement for us all.
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