INDIANA
Courier & Press
By PHILIP ELLIOTT Courier & Press staff writer 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com
December 7, 2005
The Vatican has begun its inspection of 220 U.S. seminaries for "evidence of homosexuality," and the president-rector of St. Meinrad (Ind.) School of Theology is among those doing the looking.
"It's not a witch hunt," said the Rev. Mark O'Keefe, one of the 117 Vatican-approved inspectors. "We're not supposed to go into these seminaries for a witch hunt," said O'Keefe.
He is also among the nation's senior rectors.
"The visitations," he said, "are looking at institutions, not at individuals. It's not an evaluation of any one person."
Inspectors will interview every seminarian and three years of alumni. They also will consider whether "there is a clear process for removing" dissident faculty and whether seminarians know how to use alcohol, the Internet and television "with prudence and moderation."