CALIFORNIA
Bay Area Reproter
Local gay Catholic parishioners and theologians are angered, yet determined, in the face of the Vatican's pending instruction to bar gay seminarians while it begins inspecting 229 U.S. Catholic seminaries, looking for "evidence of homosexuality" and "signs of particular friendships."
What some are calling a pogrom began with a five-member team of inquisitors visiting St. Louis, Missouri's Aquinas Institute September 25, and will be completed by next spring. A visit to the Bay Area's St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park is scheduled for next month.
According to an 11-page document, 117 bishops and priests, overseen by Military Services Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, will interview all faculty, students, and graduates from the past three years over a four-day period at each seminary. The move is in response to the fallout of the priest sexual abuse scandal.