World

Vatican Says Screenings Will Prevent Gays in Priesthood

By |

The Vatican has issued new guidelines recommending psychological screening for men interested in joining the Catholic priesthood.

Catholic seminaries have been urged to screen the candidates for certain psychological traits — including “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” — that could later compromise their roles, the Irish Times reports.

The Congregation for Catholic Education, the supervising body for Catholic seminaries worldwide, published the guidelines.

Sex-abuse cases have scandalized the Catholic Church in recent years, costing them hundreds of million dollars in settlements.

Psychological testing will not be obligatory, but could be helpful when church officials are suspicious about candidate that may possess “homosexual tendencies, unclear sexual identity, difficulty with the celibate life, excessive rigidity of character and lack of freedom in relations.”

Those meeting such criteria will be denied priesthood, the article said.

–Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org

Source:

“Vatican advises ‘psychological evaluations’ for seminarians”
The Irish Times, October 31, 2008

5 thoughts on “Vatican Says Screenings Will Prevent Gays in Priesthood”

  1. I think it’s a good idea.Whatever way we can find out a way to stop the problem facing the Catholic Church regarding the sacandals, legal issues (including millions of dollars in payments) is good for the church.

  2. CONFUSING HOMOSEXUALITY WITH PEDOPHILIA SHOWS THAT THE CHURCH IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE MODERN WORLD, JUST LIKE WHEN THEY THOUGHT THAT THE EARTH WAS FLAT,AND THAT WE WERE THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. ANYBODY THAT WILL CHALLENGE THESE DECLARED DOGMAS WAS CONSIDERED A HERETIC.

  3. If God created homosexuals, then we must first consider asking him if or not to go ahead with the appointments. if he says no, we might then consider DNA testing to identify the homosexulas and heterosexuals.

  4. I think Wilmer is on the right track. The criteria the Church is employing in its psychological screening–homosexual tendencies, rigidity of character, unclear sexual identity, lack of freedom in relations, and difficulty with celibate life–misses the mark entirely. Concededly, the Church deserves at least some credit for addressing this problem. However, pedophilia is an aberration. It is sociopathic behavior. To illustrate: Take the criterion of “difficulty with celibate life.” If a priest exhibits this difficulty, don’t you think he would just have sex with a consenting adult? Seriously. Put another way, it is my belief that pedophilia and rape, while sexual in nature, are not really about sex. Also–who decided these criteria? I’d be curious to know. Because it sure doesn’t seem like a psychological professional worth his or her salt would be that ignorant about what characterizes a pedophile.

  5. 2008 in Review: Top NYMHM Issues

    Our look back at 2008’s top NYMHM issues continues. These topics do appear in the commercial press, but only NYMHM…