OHIO
Catholic Review
April 25, 2016
By Tim Puet
Catholic News Service
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Three initiatives designed to strengthen the admissions process at the Pontifical College Josephinum have been approved by the school’s board of trustees.
The initiatives include a formal recommendation to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to establish a national database listing all applications to each seminary and houses of formation in the United States; hiring a qualified private investigative agency to assist in verifying the integrity of all applicants, including a review of their social media postings; and interviews for all applicants with a representative of the seminary’s admissions committee and the seminary’s director of psychological evaluation and counseling.
School officials planned to have the new practices in place for the 2016-17 academic year.
The admissions changes were proposed by Monsignor Christopher Schreck, the seminary’s rector-president, in March in response to criminal allegations against Joel Wright, 23, a former seminarian at the Ohio school and the Diocese of Steubenville.
Wright was arrested in San Diego in January on federal felony charges. He pleaded guilty April 13 to one charge of attempted enticement of a minor as part of a plea agreement in which he said he traveled to Mexico with the intent of molesting children. He is to be sentenced July 1. The charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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