The vast majority of bishops and vocational directors expressed their satisfaction with training programs, according to a study that analyzes how seminars and dioceses evaluate candidates for sacred orders.
However, The study He found deficiencies in evaluations related to learning difficulties and the evaluation of trends towards “activity or inclination towards sexual activity with a lower or other trait that could indicate that the person could be harmful to minors.”
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The Research Center applied to the Apostolate of the University of Georgetown (face) conducted the study in collaboration with the McGrath Institute for the Church’s life in Notre Dame. This includes responses from 103 US bishops, in addition to approximately 33% of vocations directors, 59% of seminary rectors, 11 trainers and 59 mental health specialists.
The June report, “Evaluation of Church’s practices to evaluate the suitability of candidates for sacred orders,” vocational bishops and directors asked their level of confidence in 28 training areas in their seminars. All categories of respondents claimed to believe that psychological evaluations do not properly detect the disorders or disabilities of learning or development.
According to the report, vocational bishops and directors expressed the greatest confidence in the opening of “seminarians to grow spiritually”, with 55% compared to 59% who expressed “much confidence” in this aspect. About 40% and 50% of bishops and vocational directors also expressed their confidence in the regular commitment of seminarians “with self -reflection.”
The bishops and vocational directors were the ones who showed the least confidence in the areas related to physical and mental health. Only between 19% and 21% expressed their confidence in the “health management of seminarians in minor neurosis or pathologies.” Similarly, only 17% expressed their trust “in a healthy life with medical problems or physical limitations” among the candidates for the priesthood.
In general, the concern between bishops and vocational directors on how seminars evaluate learning disabilities is high, with only 16% and 17% of bishops and vocational directors expressing their confidence in this aspect.
Rectors, trainers and mental health specialists also expressed their confidence in training areas such as spiritual growth and regular self -reflection. Between 32% and 43% they expressed their confidence in the ability of seminarians to seek treatment for mental health problems such as anxiety or depression, and the same percentage said they trust their ability to establish healthy relationships with others.
Only between 8% and 22% of the rectors, trainers and mental health specialists said they trust the formation of seminarians about “the growth in the understanding of one’s own sexual orientation”, and only between 4% and 22% have confidence in training on “the healthy management of harmful or addictive behaviors.”
Although 100% of the rectors and 94% of the spiritual trainers and directors think that the initial psychological evaluations were necessary to evaluate the suitability of a candidate for training in the seminar, less than 3 out of 5 bishops said that these evaluations could predict how well a candidate could work later as a priest.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Low Elhabbal
Madalaine Elhabbal is a CNA journalist based in the Washington DC office in EWTN. He has published articles in Catholicvote and has also worked as a foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.