UNITES STATES
International Herald Tribune
By Amy Welborn The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
FORT WAYNE, Indiana This week, teams of examiners, led by Edwin O'Brien, archbishop for the U.S. military, are beginning a visitation of all 229 Catholic seminaries in the United States. Judging by press accounts, the effort is all about uncovering and expelling homosexuals - a purge, simply put.
In truth, it's about far more than homosexuality. And it's badly needed.
When you read through the set of questions to be asked of all seminary administrators, faculty and students, you find that there is exactly one question on that issue: "Is there evidence of homosexuality?"
Along with the resurrection of warnings against "particular friendships," that makes two sentences in a document that is 11 pages long and covers a lot of territory: What are the seminary's standards for admission? Is the seminary's spiritual life vibrant and rooted in Catholic tradition? Are seminarians capable of intellectual dialogue with contemporary society?