But, if reports are true, it is not a nice fit.

The group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), has charged that Father Roberto Corral (the current provincial of the western Dominican province) has been hiding at St. Albert's Priory priests and one brother guilty of sexual misconduct with minors. The practice, it is said, began with the former provincial, Father Daniel Syverstadt.

According to two former seminarians I interviewed in July, Father Syverstadt, in the spring of 2002, met with all the seminarians and priests living at St. Albert's and told them that St. Albert's would be admitting members of the province who were accused of (and had admitted to) sexual misconduct with minors. A number of priests in the province, Syverstadt reportedly said, were "sweating bullets" because of a "slip" twenty years ago. He allegedly said the order had planned to put one of the accused priests back into ministry in Utah, but because of the scandals, this was no longer possible. The seminarians also report that Syverstadt said that he would not tell bishops about members of the province who had been guilty of sexual misconduct; he would only tell of drug and alcohol abuse issues. If bishops began requiring that sexual misconduct be revealed, Syverstadt allegedly said the province would simply withdraw from those dioceses. The seminarians say Syverstadt claimed that the western province has not paid out exorbitant settlements in these cases but has tried to be fair and equitable and has agreed to pay for things like psychiatric counseling. Syverstadt allegedly said that sexual abuse was handled differently in the past and that the problem was just understood differently before the widespread scandals. All present were not to talk with the media.

This is not the first report of the Dominicans hiding sex offenders at St. Albert's. On Saturday, May 15, SNAP staged a protest in front of the priory. SNAP claimed that four priests guilty of sexual misconduct with minors had been moved into St. Albert's Priory, and three other priests guilty of sexual misconduct with minors had moved into Siena House (a residential house in the neighborhood surrounding St. Albert's that is located just a short distance from the priory).

Daniel McNevin, a SNAP member, was among those at the protest. Because of the need to protect his sources, McNevin said he could not identify who told SNAP about the new residents of St. Albert's; but, he asserted, the neighborhood had no idea before SNAP informed them. "David Clohessy, the national director of SNAP, was there, and he was our major representative," said McNevin. "We organized a leafleting of the neighborhood, and we invited the newspapers, radio, and TV stations there. We walked the neighborhood and put flyers on cars and rang doorbells to let people know that there were unidentified sexual abusers living in the priory, and we wanted them to know about it so they could protect their children. And the neighbors I talked to were shocked." Megan's law did not apply to these priests, said McNevin, because "to our knowledge, these guys have not been charged. No one knows outside the order what they've done."

According to McNevin, Father Bartholomew Hutcherson (who was at that time Dominican vicar provincial) spoke briefly with the demonstrators. Initially, McNevin said, Hutcherson refused to talk to any SNAP members when they came to the door of St. Albert's. "This Father Bart turned us away when there was TV cameras there, but when they left he opened the door and chatted with us for a while. He refused to deny that there were men living in the priory who had had troubles with kids. He just chose not to comment when asked that question directly. He really placed the blame -- if you want to call it that -- on his superior for the way it was being handled. He said he was just a soldier following orders."

David Clohessy confirmed that he had been present at the leafleting. According to Clohessy, only television news was present, no print media. McNevin thinks the event might have received more media attention had other news events - such as the Laci Peterson trial -- not been competing for air space.

Dominic (not his real name) recently left St. Albert's after realizing he would never be ordained. "I'm deeply disturbed at how they're running the whole operation," he said.

The Dominicans, said Dominic, are not as unorthodox as other orders. "The Franciscans or Jesuits -- they're off the deep end. The Dominicans, by comparison, look solid. At St. Albert's, they wear the habit and use more traditional music (to the dismay of the liberal provincial, who issued a memo last year saying that St. Albert's liturgies needed to more greatly resemble those of parishes within the province); and they sing the Divine Office in choir."

But, said Dominic, "that's not how life is lived out in the province. When you go out on tour -- novices take two tours during their novitiate, one to all the houses in the southern sector of the province and another to the northern sector) -- it's another story."

Dominic said that though those governing the western Dominican province appeared moderate, "a visit to all the houses within the province will quickly dispel any attempt to portray the province as orthodox or moderate. Practically every house in the province uses inclusive language versions of the Liturgy of the Hours (and each house has a different version, which is disconcerting when traveling through the province). Liturgical dancing exists within the province. Seminarians preach at Masses, especially on their apostolic year when they are stationed at a Newman Center or parish run by the Dominicans." A notable exception to this, said Dominic, is Holy Rosary parish in Portland, Oregon, a center for the sacrament of penance. Holy Rosary also has a Gregorian chant Mass on Sundays, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, public recitation of the Divine Office, as well as theology classes for the laity.

Two men Dominic singled out as particularly troublesome for seminarians were Father Michael Monshau, the prior and master of student cooperator brothers, and Father Christopher Renz, the master of clerical students (formation director) at Saint Albert's. "Father Renz will also serve as interim dean at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology for the coming academic year (giving him even more concentrated authority.) Father Chris is also an adjunct faculty member of the Dominican School. "These are the two main guys who work together and the seminarians have to be filtered through them," said Dominic.

Father Monshau's leadership role troubles Dominic. "He has a history of ineptitude and indifference when he has been the superior in a house with priests known to have deviant appetites, as can be shown by the news article, 'Church Passed Blame In Priest's Sex Abuse' [Detroit Free Press, May 23, 2002; www.freep.com/news/religion/priest23_20020523.htm]. Now once again Father Monshau is in charge of a house with priests who have abused minors. When will they learn?"

As for Father Renz, "he was always more supportive of the seminarians who were homosexual," Dominic said. He is extremely supportive of the use of inclusive language and liturgical dance. He would get angry about brothers wearing the habit too much. The irony is that Father Chris had no problem excluding anyone from religious life who would have threatened his liberal agenda in any serious way. His compassion and understanding were limited to seminarians that were either liberal or on the fence.

"If you want to make it as a Dominican, you have to go through Father Renz," Dominic continued. "So you don't want to challenge him. It's probably a good idea to show up for Night Prayer in your lay clothes. It's probably a good idea to receive communion in the hand. You do not want to defend the traditional teachings of the Church, and you definitely do not want to badmouth homosexuality. It's never said openly, but you learn it quickly, and there's nothing you can do about it. He's in charge."

Dominic noted that when he was at St. Albert's the austerity of St. Dominic had a hard time competing with the pleasures of indulgence there. "There would be an open bar every night before dinner. The life lived at St. Albert 's is an upper middle class life. They live a very comfortable, soft life. Yet St. Dominic was totally committed to poverty. He definitely would not have approved. He would have understood such softness as a danger to the souls of these men whose mission is to preach for the salvation of souls. But the Western Dominicans simply shrug that off with a 'that was then, this is now' attitude."

One reason given for the luxuries of St. Albert's living was the residence of students from the School of Applied Theology (SAT), which offers sabbatical retreats for church workers and others. (The school is not staffed by Dominicans; St. Albert's merely houses it.) St. Albert's staff, said Dominic, "would tell us that since these SAT students were our guests, we couldn't expect them to eat stark, bland meals; and since it would be foolish to have two separate kitchens, the Dominicans would eat the same gourmet meals being prepared for their guests. We'd talk about our vow of poverty, and then we'd have something like shrimp scampi for lunch.

"Priests and nuns would come from all other parts of the world and take classes at the School of Applied Theology at St. Albert's and get college credit. It was the most liberal, left-wing theology -- Process Theology, which teaches that God is learning and God makes mistakes, that God is evolving, and that kind of stuff. They were living in the house with us. Most of them were very nice, kind people -- liberal as hell, but nice."

A visit to the School of Applied Theology's website (www.satgtu.org/mission.htm) confirmed that it is indeed housed at St. Albert's. Among the courses offered is "Christology," in which, said the website, students "will look at the best biblical and systematic authors who have written on Jesus in the NT as well as the contemporary theologies on Jesus: liberation theology, Asian theology and ecumenical (Protestant and Catholic) theology. The most important current issue in the Roman Catholic Church is the centrality of Jesus for salvation."

Another course is "Spirituality of Inclusiveness," which examines "the foundational principles of the all-inclusive Love of God and its presentation in the Gospel, as well as the elements in societies which exclude and marginalize. While making reference to various peoples who are excluded and put aside, the primary focus will be on women, gay men and lesbians who wish to live more fully within the Community of Faith." Another class is "Enneagram and Spirituality." Among the school's presenters are such noted dissenters as Fathers Michael Crosby and Richard Sparks.

The last straw for Dominic was when the sex-offenders were moved in and the community was instructed to keep it quiet. These sex-offenders, said Dominic, "get to vote whether or not [a seminarian] gets to continue in the community. People who have violated their own vows should not have a say in who gets to stay or go in religious life. Then you have to be charitable and converse with these people; you have guys who start saying [of the offenders], 'he's not such a bad fellow.'"

Dominic said that during interviews to enter the Western Province, "they ask that you reveal as much about yourself as possible and most candidates willingly comply in an honest attempt to cooperate with the application process. They don't rule you out if you have a homosexual orientation. In fact the policy is to admit celibate homosexuals. In fact for a number of years, one of the men guilty of sexual misconduct with minors was on the interview panel to screen candidates for the novitiate!"

As for Dominican theological training, Dominic said, "Church teaching is set on equal footing with everything else, and it's never given any kind of primacy. Father Jordan (Paul) Vajda, one of the Dominicans from the western province, recently left the Church to become a Mormon. He was a really bright guy, very intellectual. He entered the Dominican seminary in 1990. He was a big movie buff. Father Jordan was ordained a Dominican priest in May of 1998, and now he's a Mormon -- great formation, huh?"

But not all priests and brothers in the western Dominican province are bad, said Dominic. "Some are very good and there are a number of good guys in formation," he said. But even though studies indicate that new seminarians in the Church as a whole are more traditional and orthodox, Dominic doesn't believe that's enough to rejuvenate what he sees as a sick underground in the priesthood -- at least not for a long while. "The sad fact is that our society has become very sick, and much of the priesthood has become a good old boys' network of soft men with dubious agendas. You can't turn the Titanic 180 degrees on a dime when it's been going full speed in the other direction for such a long time. But just as pride sank the Titanic, eventually this sad time in Church history will end through the pride and imprudence of the progressives. The Church will always persevere, but that isn't any guarantee for us as individuals. That's why St. Paul says we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling."

Father Robert Corral, the prior provincial of the western province, admitted that "priests and/or brothers who are sex offenders [are] living at St. Albert's. The accusations against them," said Corral, "go back as far as five decades, and the most recent was 5 years ago. The diocese has been informed of their presence at St. Albert's. These men do not have any public ministry, and they have no interaction with children or young people." All receive psychological care. Father Corral admitted that one of those guilty of sexual misconduct with minors was one of eight men who sat on the interview panel to screen candidates for the novitiate. But it had been 20 years since his "misconduct and after he received intense therapy for a number of years. He no longer serves in that capacity as of 2003."

Father Corral noted that two years ago the western province completely rewrote its sexual misconduct policy. Further, with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the "province will be undergoing a very thorough process of accreditation to ensure that we comply with and even supersede the 'Essential Norms' of the U.S. Bishops." In the case of offending clerics and brothers, Father Corral said he "must prudently follow civil law, ecclesial law, and keep in mind the insights of the social sciences." But, he said, he is "also obliged to remember that they are still my brothers, part of my Dominican family, and so must be treated on an individual basis and in a manner which respects their dignity. I must walk the fine line between ensuring, to the best of my ability, that my brothers will never have an opportunity to re-offend and yet not judge them only according to their past offenses."

Father Christopher Renz was less than communicative when asked about the allegations of the former novices. Renz denied that inclusive language is used throughout the province or at St. Albert's. As for liturgical dance, "we certainly don't do it at St. Albert's here," he said. Father Corral, however, said, "I support the use of inclusive language as approved by the Church as, indeed, every Catholic is obliged to do. I have enjoyed seeing liturgical dance on a number of occasions, including at papal and episcopal liturgies. I don't believe there has been liturgical dance at a St. Albert's student liturgy since the 1980's."

When I asked Father Renz about School of Applied Theology courses at St. Alberts, he referred me to the provincial's office. Father Corral said the Dominicans have a contract with the School, but it does "not include controlling what they teach or don't teach." Renz refused to comment on Dominic's allegation that there was no primacy given to Catholic teaching at St. Albert's. "I won't comment on that over the phone. I'd want to see the statement."

Father Renz conceded that seminarians are permitted to preach at Mass: "it depends on the circumstances. We don't do anything that would be disruptive to the liturgy or against what's going to be ... according to the norms." Dominic, however, said the Dominicans at St. Albert's "get around" the norms "by having the priests saying Mass skip their homilies on days when students will preach at vespers. Vespers is done separately from Mass at St. Albert's on those days. Instead of priests, students preach homilies at scheduled Masses when they are on their apostolic years, and sometimes novices are made to tell their life stories in lieu of a homily while on tour."

When asked if he discouraged novices from wearing their habits, Father Renz said, "what I do is, I try to help them understand the responsibility of wearing the habit, because it's a public garment. So what we try to do here is a gradual indoctrination, if you will, into being a public representative of the Church, because you want to be responsible -- in their use of, whether it's the Roman collar or the habit. I don't actually have the authority to make those kinds of decisions. That's the provincial."

Laughing, Father Renz denied the allegations of "living luxuriously" with an open bar available before gourmet meals. "We try to live a simple, austere.... I don't know what that would mean.... I just, I think that's an unfair judgment."

On the subject of admitting homosexual applicants, Father Renz said, "I don' t think that's relevant to anything we're talking about now."