UNITED STATES
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, September 1, 2005
The Vatican is set to inspect U.S. Catholic seminaries and theology schools for the first time in two decades, addressing issues key to the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Between late September and next June, teams of three to four people from the Holy See will visit up to 229 institutions, examining how schools screen applicants and what they teach students about issues such as sexuality and obedience. The schools include St. John's Seminary in Brighton, the alma mater of nearly every pedophile priest in the Archdiocese of Boston.
``They will be looking at the whole issue of preparation to live a celibate life,'' said Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Vatican formally announced the ``apostolic visitations'' in April 2002, after the scandal broke in Boston and spread nationwide.
But many victims' advocates and experts on pedophilia in the priesthood are skeptical about the inspections, noting for example that some church officials have blamed the scandal on gays in the priesthood, even though an untold number of victims are female.