ST. LOUIS (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - A Catholic seminary in St. Louis will be among the first in the country to be visited by Vatican officials seeking evidence of homosexuality.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Philadelphia will lead a five-member team that will visit Aquinas Institute of Theology Sept. 25-29, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday. The purpose, according to the Vatican, is to "examine the criteria for admission of candidates and the programs of human formation and spiritual formation aimed at ensuring that they faithfully live chastely for the Kingdom."
Seminaries across the U.S. will be visited through next spring. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and Belleville, Ill., Bishop Edward K. Braxton will be among the 117 bishops and seminary staff sent to the seminaries.
Visits will involve interviews with faculty, staff, seminarians and recent alumni, and will be overseen by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education.