Screening, monitoring appear to weed out potential abusers

Since rigorous screening and evaluation of candidates for the priesthood began 20 years ago, only one priest in the Albany Diocese who underwent the process has been accused of sexual misconduct with a minor. Those involved in the screening process for prospective priests say that's proof that the system now in place works.

Rev. Anthony Chiaramonte is director of the diocesan Consultation Center in Albany, which offers mental-health counseling for individuals and groups.

When he was ordained 38 years ago, he said, he'd only gone through a short interview before being accepted into the seminary. Bishop Howard J. Hubbard noted in a column in The Evangelist in 2002 that during all his years of preparation for the priesthood, sexuality was never discussed.

Changes

That's been far from the case for at least 20 years, according to Rev. James Walsh, director of recruitment for the diocesan Vocations Office.

Applicants for the priesthood, he said, must go through a rigorous series of interviews, testing and evaluation before even being considered for acceptance into the seminary -- and then are evaluated continually over the next six years of their education.

One key to the screening process, said Father Walsh, is that men applying to the priesthood are never unknown to the Vocations Office team. They have either spent time in discernment groups to make the decision about their vocation, or Father Walsh has met with them separately over a long period of time.

For example

He gave the example of a student who attends a college outside the Diocese: Though the young man might not be able to attend discernment meetings, Father Walsh would have lunch with him when he's home from college, meet his family and learn about his life.

By the time men decide to enter the seminary, said Father Walsh, they are "pretty well known to us" either through discernment groups or individual meetings.

Men can't call from outside the Diocese and simply request to enter the priesthood, either. Father Walsh said it's rare for outside applicants to even ask, because they're required to move to the Albany Diocese and live here for at least a year before applying.

"If you have to come here, find a job and live here for a year, that's quite a commitment," he stated.

Preliminaries

If they do apply for the priesthood, candidates for the seminary must complete reams of paperwork. First, they fill out an application with extensive biographical data. "We're trying to really get to know who this person is," said Father Walsh.

Applicants must give a lengthy explanation of their family background, childhood, adolescence and so on. Also required are school transcripts and a minimum of four letters of reference, one from the applicant's pastor and three from other people.

Then come the interviews. Father Walsh said each applicant spends about an hour with three members of the Vocations Office board, talking about friends, relationships, why they're interested in the priesthood and other issues.

Into the mind

A psychological assessment is next; that's where Father Chiaramonte takes the lead. The therapist said that four psychologists from the Consultation Center spend about ten hours total over a three-day period interviewing the applicant on various aspects of mental health:

* A psychosocial history explores the applicant's family history, developmental stages and the like;

* a psychosexual interview covers aspects of the applicant's sexual development and relationships (using a questionnaire from St. Luke's Institute, a renowned Maryland mental-health treatment center);

* "projective tests," including the Millon Personality Inventory and the Rorschach test, look at personality;

* an interview on addictions uses the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (also known as the MAST Inventory on Addictions) to explore addictive tendencies; and

* a spiritual evaluation using the pamphlet "Understanding Your Spiritual Journey" covers spiritual aspects of development.

Red flags?

During the entire process, said Father Chiaramonte, the staff looks for "red flags" that may indicate the person is inappropriate for the priesthood.

He listed dysfunctional parents, a childhood spent in a "hostile environment," narcissistic traits, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addiction issues (alcohol, drugs, gambling or sexual addiction), and past arrests or financial difficulties as warning signs.

All of that information is assembled, and the Consultation Center prepares a report for the Vocations board, which goes on to do an extensive background check on the applicant, including a criminal background check, Social Security trace and sex offender status check.

Six years to go

If the board decides in favor of accepting the applicant, he may enter the seminary. However, Father Walsh added, "that's just the process that allows them in. Then we've got six years to get to know them" even better.

Prospective priests, said Father Walsh, are men whose psychological development has been healthy and normal. They have deep faith and have gone through a process that has led them to an authentic vocation.

That's not to say men whose applications are accepted are perfect. Sometimes, said Father Walsh, candidates are accepted on the condition that they work on personal issues as they prepare for the priesthood. The candidate's growth in that area is then evaluated over the five-year period until he is ordained a deacon (a year before he becomes a priest).

In the seminary, candidates for the priesthood take courses on how to handle celibacy and are constantly reminded that they need to have emotionally intimate (though not sexually intimate) relationships with men and women.

Support system

"Intimacy isn't an option," Father Walsh stated. "You've got to develop good friendships: priest friends, family friends, parishioner friends, college friends. A big part of my support system is people I used to work with."

The key, he added, is for seminarians to have friends "from all parts of your life." He noted that it's not appropriate for a future priest to be a "lone ranger," since "it's people who get isolated that have the potential to look for intimacy in unhealthy ways."

Seminarians are not given the option of whether to discuss sexuality. "The people in the seminary will force you to talk about that," said Father Walsh.

Seminarians also have mentors to monitor their growth in spirituality and their psychological development. Such counselors can call the Diocese to suggest that a candidate work on a particular issue, and counselors can see the candidate for therapy.

Rigorous process

No one in religious life or the medical profession has developed a "100-percent sure litmus test" to predict whether someone will become an abuser, but Father Walsh believes that enough information is gathered on applicants for evaluators to say, "This is a healthy individual," before the applicant becomes a priest.

Father Chiaramonte said that those who screen future priests are "much more knowledgeable" than they were decades ago, when criminal background checks were unheard of and sexuality was a taboo subject.

"We've got in place now a good methodology we didn't have in place before," he said, adding that facing the clergy sexual abuse scandal has made the staff "even more alert to look for red flags than ever before."

(6/19/03) [[In-content Ad]]