Sunday, June 11, 2006
Does your priest prey on puppies?
Fr. Paul Stanosz, pastor of St. James Church here in Franklin, deleted his Church in Hospice weblog, so I've linked to the copy of this post in Google's cache.
With that prelude, you might expect that the seminary administrators would also understand the need for the visitations.
Even with "countless" priests sexually abusing children, they still wanted business as usual.
After the Council
Stanosz agrees with the pre-conciliar critique, and doubts the post-conciliar. If he's right, he leaves unexplained why unsuitable men continued to be ordained after the huge drop in numbers and more willingness to examine sexuality.
In Comments, Pseudodionysius answers
He starts with the clerical sexual abuse crisis, noting the example of "countless Boston priests abusing hundreds of children."
Catholics understandably began to wonder how these men managed to be ordained and what kind of formation seminarians receive today to help them live lives of celibacy. Lay Catholics weren't the only ones wondering what was happening in seminaries. In 2002, the Holy See called for a visitation of all U. S. seminaries.
With that prelude, you might expect that the seminary administrators would also understand the need for the visitations.
Seminary officials have complained of the inquisitorial manner of some visitors.
Even with "countless" priests sexually abusing children, they still wanted business as usual.
Fr. Stanosz's reading of the visitation report [158 pp., pdf] is that in seminaries before the Second Vatican Council
Formation was primarily intellectual, supplemented by encouragement to develop a habit of prayer in students. According to the report, large numbers of men overwhelmed seminaries and too little attention was payed to their affective maturity. the shortcomings of immature candidates like Boston's John Geoghan were not addressed and too many men were passed on to ordination.
After the Council
In the 1970s and 80s, the report claims that as numbers of candidates entering seminaries declined precipitously, many weak candidates were admitted and a certain laxness overtook some seminaries.
Stanosz agrees with the pre-conciliar critique, and doubts the post-conciliar. If he's right, he leaves unexplained why unsuitable men continued to be ordained after the huge drop in numbers and more willingness to examine sexuality.
Update: Diogenes asks at Off the Record
When exactly did the US bishops jump the shark?
In Comments, Pseudodionysius answers
The US Bishops jumped the shark when they approved the spinoff series "Chachi loves Chachi" for broadcast in our seminaries. Cost overruns came to just over $1.0 Billion USD.¶ 6/11/2006 06:51:00 PM
