The article below appears in yesterday's issue of The Irish Times.
The heading, Church defends Vatican, is amazingly odd. Something akin to telling readers Tuesday follows Monday.
As reported in the article below, the Vatican document seems most confusing.
The Irish Catholic Church's national co-ordinator for diocesan vocations, Fr Patrick Rushe says, 'clericalism is not as prominent now'. The veracitiy and accuracy of this comment needs serious questioning. Fr Rushe also says that, 'Many of the seminarians were also of 'better quality' than in the past. What does that mean? Is there scientific evidence to show this or is it another clever statement of obfuscation, hoping that the serious problems will go away?
He also says that 'such matters are being taken seriously by the church'. Is this so?
The document, according to the IT article says that if men have 'difficulty with the celibate life the path of formation will have to be interupted'.
What a nonsense is this?
And then the document, again according to the IT, says that men with 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies' should also have their formation interrupted.
Any chance the Vatican could come clean on all this and be prophetic and visionary. Even tell the truth.
A question for those in the Vatican who are responsible for formation of men studying for the priesthood: what happens if those in charge of student formation are homosexual and misogynistic?
Hopefully the Vatican document is not as silly as what is reported in yesterday's Irish Times. Then again, maybe it just is.
And then the final comment in the art of gobbledygook, this sentence appears:
At a news conference in the Vatican, prefect for Catholic education Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, said the use of psychological tests should become neither "obligatory" nor "ordinary practice".
The recent death and subsequent media coverage of Jorg Haider is a most interesting metaphor.
And now the article in yesterday's Irish Times.
Church defends Vatican document
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
A VATICAN document issued last week, which recommended that seminary candidates undergo "psychological evaluations", was as much about reassuring the laity that such matters are being taken seriously by the church, Fr Patrick Rushe has said.
The Irish Catholic Church's national co-ordinator for diocesan vocations said the document from the Congregation for Catholic Education was more broadly focused than just on sexual issues.
"It encourages psychological profiling in the broader sense, as a help" in assisting candidates for the priesthood, he said.
"We find that most guys coming to us need development of some kind, though not as it was say 20 years ago."
More often, these days, seminarians were men who had come through ''their own journey of faith. They may have been non-practising for a period. They may have gone from fervour to non-practise, only to find fervour again.They may be older, with a wider experience. They are all the better for that in many cases," he said.
Most seminaries "now encourage a period of reflection", where such men are concerned. It is part of a process, and issues dealt with were "much broader than sex or orientation", he said.
He felt that today's seminarians were more realistic. "They may have had other professions and been in relationships. They know what life is like."
But, he also felt, you could not replace the idealism of youth. Many of today's seminarians were also of "better quality" than in the past, and had "a deeper sense of service. Clericalism is not as prominent now [among seminarians]".
Currently there are 87 men training to become priests in Ireland at seminaries in Rome, Spain, Britain and Maynooth.
This year 14 men were ordained to serve as Catholic priests in Ireland, compared to nine in 2007.
Fr Rushe was commenting in the context of a document issued by the Vatican's congregation last Thursday.
It recommended that seminarians undergo "psychological evaluations" with regard to potential personality disturbances as well as to their ability to live a celibate life. It followed on from another document issued by the congregation in 2005 which said the Catholic Church cannot ordain men who are active homosexuals or who have "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies.
The new document argued that if seminary students demonstrated areas of grave immaturity, then "the path of formation will have to be interrupted". Such areas of "immaturity" it indicated included deep-seated homosexual tendencies, unclear sexual identity, difficulty with the celibate life, excessive rigidity of character and lack of freedom in relations.
It said special attention should be given to ensuring that celibacy was not "a burden so heavy" that it compromised a candidate's affective and relational equilibrium.
As for assessing a candidate's ability to live a celibate life, it suggested that "it is not enough to be sure that he is capable of abstaining from genital activity" but that it is also necessary "to evaluate his sexual orientation".
The document said that psychological tests could be useful with a view not only to identifying troubled candidates but also in helping seminarians through their vocational journey, especially if the candidate needs to overcome psychological wounds.
At a news conference in the Vatican, prefect for Catholic education Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, said the use of psychological tests should become neither "obligatory" nor "ordinary practice".
The heading, Church defends Vatican, is amazingly odd. Something akin to telling readers Tuesday follows Monday.
As reported in the article below, the Vatican document seems most confusing.
The Irish Catholic Church's national co-ordinator for diocesan vocations, Fr Patrick Rushe says, 'clericalism is not as prominent now'. The veracitiy and accuracy of this comment needs serious questioning. Fr Rushe also says that, 'Many of the seminarians were also of 'better quality' than in the past. What does that mean? Is there scientific evidence to show this or is it another clever statement of obfuscation, hoping that the serious problems will go away?
He also says that 'such matters are being taken seriously by the church'. Is this so?
The document, according to the IT article says that if men have 'difficulty with the celibate life the path of formation will have to be interupted'.
What a nonsense is this?
And then the document, again according to the IT, says that men with 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies' should also have their formation interrupted.
Any chance the Vatican could come clean on all this and be prophetic and visionary. Even tell the truth.
A question for those in the Vatican who are responsible for formation of men studying for the priesthood: what happens if those in charge of student formation are homosexual and misogynistic?
Hopefully the Vatican document is not as silly as what is reported in yesterday's Irish Times. Then again, maybe it just is.
And then the final comment in the art of gobbledygook, this sentence appears:
At a news conference in the Vatican, prefect for Catholic education Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, said the use of psychological tests should become neither "obligatory" nor "ordinary practice".
The recent death and subsequent media coverage of Jorg Haider is a most interesting metaphor.
And now the article in yesterday's Irish Times.
Church defends Vatican document
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
A VATICAN document issued last week, which recommended that seminary candidates undergo "psychological evaluations", was as much about reassuring the laity that such matters are being taken seriously by the church, Fr Patrick Rushe has said.
The Irish Catholic Church's national co-ordinator for diocesan vocations said the document from the Congregation for Catholic Education was more broadly focused than just on sexual issues.
"It encourages psychological profiling in the broader sense, as a help" in assisting candidates for the priesthood, he said.
"We find that most guys coming to us need development of some kind, though not as it was say 20 years ago."
More often, these days, seminarians were men who had come through ''their own journey of faith. They may have been non-practising for a period. They may have gone from fervour to non-practise, only to find fervour again.They may be older, with a wider experience. They are all the better for that in many cases," he said.
Most seminaries "now encourage a period of reflection", where such men are concerned. It is part of a process, and issues dealt with were "much broader than sex or orientation", he said.
He felt that today's seminarians were more realistic. "They may have had other professions and been in relationships. They know what life is like."
But, he also felt, you could not replace the idealism of youth. Many of today's seminarians were also of "better quality" than in the past, and had "a deeper sense of service. Clericalism is not as prominent now [among seminarians]".
Currently there are 87 men training to become priests in Ireland at seminaries in Rome, Spain, Britain and Maynooth.
This year 14 men were ordained to serve as Catholic priests in Ireland, compared to nine in 2007.
Fr Rushe was commenting in the context of a document issued by the Vatican's congregation last Thursday.
It recommended that seminarians undergo "psychological evaluations" with regard to potential personality disturbances as well as to their ability to live a celibate life. It followed on from another document issued by the congregation in 2005 which said the Catholic Church cannot ordain men who are active homosexuals or who have "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies.
The new document argued that if seminary students demonstrated areas of grave immaturity, then "the path of formation will have to be interrupted". Such areas of "immaturity" it indicated included deep-seated homosexual tendencies, unclear sexual identity, difficulty with the celibate life, excessive rigidity of character and lack of freedom in relations.
It said special attention should be given to ensuring that celibacy was not "a burden so heavy" that it compromised a candidate's affective and relational equilibrium.
As for assessing a candidate's ability to live a celibate life, it suggested that "it is not enough to be sure that he is capable of abstaining from genital activity" but that it is also necessary "to evaluate his sexual orientation".
The document said that psychological tests could be useful with a view not only to identifying troubled candidates but also in helping seminarians through their vocational journey, especially if the candidate needs to overcome psychological wounds.
At a news conference in the Vatican, prefect for Catholic education Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, said the use of psychological tests should become neither "obligatory" nor "ordinary practice".
3 comments:
Any chance some of this psychological profiling might be applied to current clergy? Vocations directors? Masters of novices? Bishops?
Who would be the ones to turn out the lights?
Is there not a danger with all of this in creating an atmosphere of fear and terror in ruling out, in all circumstances, anyone with a homosexual inclincation? The more fear and terror there is, the less healthy the Church becomes.
If men with a pure heterosexual bent were the only ones to be allowed to marry and the only ones permitted to father children, the human race would very quickly be facing extinction.
Romantic notions of most men being pure blooded 100% heterosexuals are daft. If they weren't, society would never have developed the tabooes like same-gender sex, sex with the very young, bestiality, etc. Some of these tabooes are highly appropriate and necessary, of course, if society is to survive and the vulnerable protected. But they only exist because of the reality of the human condition.
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