UNITED STATES
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly
September 23, 2005 Episode no. 904
BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Several reports this week predict Pope Benedict XVI will approve a document being prepared that would bar all homosexuals from becoming Catholic priests -- this just before Vatican representatives begin long-planned visits, inspections, at every American Catholic seminary where, among other things, the visitors are expected to review each school's policy for screening out applicants who are gay or have even a homosexual orientation. There are about 4,500 seminarians.
Judy Valente has our story.
JUDY VALENTE: These candidates for the priesthood have just arrived at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland. The seminary is nearly 200 years old and one of the largest in the country. Like other seminaries and schools of theology, it will soon be visited for several days by one of the teams of American bishops and priests selected by the Vatican.
Monsignor STEVEN ROHLFS (Rector, Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Maryland): They've been asked to interview all of the seminarians. Every single one. They've been asked to interview all of our faculty, all of the administration. We had to provide all the course work that we teach -- all the outlines, all the bibliographies. They'll interview all of the professors.
VALENTE: The teams will also look for "evidence of homosexuality." Archbishop Edwin O'Brien is coordinator of the seminary review.