Monday, May 31, 2010

NYT: A shifting litmus test at Roman Catholic seminaries

A seminary psychologist who screens applicants to the priesthood says:
"We have no gay men in our seminary at this time," said Dr. Robert Palumbo, a psychologist who has screened seminary candidates at the diocese’s Cathedral Seminary Residence in Douglaston, Queens, for 10 years. "I’m pretty sure of it." Whether that reflects rigorous vetting or the reluctance of gay men to apply, he could not say. "I’m just reporting what is," he said.

...

“A criterion like this may not ensure that you are getting the best candidates,” said Mark D. Jordan, the R. R. Niebuhr professor at Harvard Divinity School, who has studied homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood. “Though it might get you people who lie or who are so confused they do not really know who they are.”

“And not the least irony here,” he added, “is that these new regulations are being enforced in many cases by seminary directors who are themselves gay.”


NYT, 5/20/2010, Prospective Catholic Priests Face Sexuality Hurdles

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