IOWA
Telegraph Herald
by ERIK HOGSTROM
Church officials rely on a battery of screenings to filter out potentially abusive priests.
"I'm not sure you could find a screening process that is more extensive than this one," said the Rev. Scott Bullock, director of seminarians for the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Prospective priests face several tests, psychological analyses and questions about their sexual history - all before gaining admittance to the seminary.
"That is not to say the process is perfect," Bullock said, "but it has improved dramatically."
In past generations, a parish priest's recommendation ushered in a relatively uncomplicated acceptance process into the seminary.
Bullock described the current process as a four- to eight-year period of "very intense evaluation."