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Irish Catholic church seeks to weed out pedophiles

By
PATRICK COOPER,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 7:00 AM
Updated Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 7:15 AM

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There is only one priest per parish in Ireland
New church initiative set to weed out pedophiles


The Irish Catholic Church is intent on weeding out pedophiles before they become priests, beginning with current seminarians. Among the steps police are being asked to conduct a thorough investigation of the person's past.

A questionnaire has also been sent to all of last year's seminary entrants via email this week.

"This is a challenging time for the church and it's amazing that, in the midst of all this challenge and hostility, people are still coming forward. It's worth finding out why," director of vocations Father Paddy Rushe told the Irish Independent.

"Certainly, the recent scandals have piqued the interest in terms of wanting to get a better idea of what the motivations are to bring a guy forward -- particularly at times like this.

"It's not fair to say it's directly designed with the abuse in mind. There's probably some connection but it's more against the backdrop of the reports we're doing it -- to find out their attitudes and motivations in answering the call."

He said there was no suggestion any of the new seminarians had engaged in wrongdoing or were likely to do so in the future.

Fr Rushe said the questionnaire "will probe motivations, backgrounds, pastimes, interests, routines, and experiences. We will ask about praying, whether they were part of religious groups or prayer groups before they joined the seminary."

And he claimed that there is now  "a very rigorous process in place." Applicants for the priesthood have a medical screening and full check-up, which includes an in-depth psychological evaluation, carried out by trained psychologists. "Sexuality is part of the profile", Father Rushe said.

Next is an interview with the bishop and if the candidate is provisionally accepted, they are then scrutinized by the police-vetting unit. Rushe said that he hoped the questionnaire carried out in conjunction with the church's research and development department would be issued annually.

 Maeve Lewis, Director of child abuse support group One in Four, said it was more important than ever to ensure seminarians were "psychologically, spiritually and emotionally mature."
 

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13 Comments

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DennisQ | May 02, 2010, 04:39 PM EDT
Years ago the Church used to worry about disloyalty, and they'd get rid of anybody who showed the least sign of it. Remember Bishop Sheen? They banished him to Rochester and refused to make him a Cardinal. Today, the disagreements between him and the higher-ups seem trivial. They got what they wanted - loyal priests who didn't have a lot of character. The next generation of priests will leave children alone, but they'll openly criticize the teaching authority of the Church. Frankly, it's about time that happened!

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2BorNot2B | Apr 27, 2010, 02:13 AM EDT
hyattsville sez: "if the Catholic church is to have a future, they are on the verge of extinction after all." Gosh, I must be living in a dream world then. Easter Masses were standing room only, the collections were again over the top, and 150 thousand people were baptized into the Church this year at the Easter vigil. For a Church that is on the verge of extinction it's sure giving the wrong signals to all those wishful thinkers, dontcha think?

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quixotic | Apr 15, 2010, 09:26 PM EDT
donal1951 is right on. That is what happened and the people running those institutions knew that his disorientation was possible.

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quixotic | Apr 15, 2010, 09:21 PM EDT
This is all so much BS. The fact is that these offenses happened several years ago by priests who were in the Seminary 45 years ago. In those days young kids (13 years old) were induced to join the priesthood before they had reached puberty. Then they were secluded and cut off from the real world to protect their 'vocations' from temptation. The church knew this practice was harmful. These people did not start out as nascent homosexuals or pedophiles -- they were made that. The Church must face up.

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LilPaddy | Apr 14, 2010, 12:18 PM EDT
Has any of these "vetting" persons ever thought of looking for THE ANSWER IN SIMPLICITY??....... POLYGRAPH TEST!! Just the thought of it would keep 99% from even trying to get into the "safe haven" of THE CROSS AND COLLAR BUSINESS...... And it could/SHOULD also be used to verify current claims AND/OR DENIALS of sexual abuse in Ireland and the rest of the world!!! "REAL" present and/or future Brother, Priests or Nuns will take the test; and FALSE CLAIMERS OF SEXUAL ABUSE WILL MAKE (or have solicitors make for them) ALL KINDS OF LEGAL REASONS TO AVOID BEING "HOOKED UP", or they will run for the hills..... ANYWAY, IT'S ONE SURE WAY TO WEED OUT "THE PRETENDERS.. And Ireland, The Church and The World need peace NOW!! p.s. I'm not a church goer BUT MANY OTHERS I KNOW ARE!

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Carroll09 | Apr 14, 2010, 11:46 AM EDT
Hyattsville- yes, indeed we all agree on the psychological testing that is now taking place.There are currently about 80 students studying at St Patrick's- maybe not an excellent number overall,but last september saw the biggest intake of new seminarians in several years.It is also worth noting that the dioceses which do well in terms of vocations are those which are faithful to the Church's teachings & which have a bishop who really leads (look, for example at the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska- something like 40 seminarians for a Catholic population of c.90,000).Anyway,I am thankful that we will now hopefully be more interested in quality than quantity-holy priests will inspire REAL vocations rather than the clerical culture which took such a strong & disfunctional hold in Ireland in the 50's & 60's.

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hyattsville | Apr 14, 2010, 11:29 AM EDT
@ Carroll09 -OK I can allow that maybe I am wrong in my accounting of worldwide ordinations, but I believe that only six students from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth were ordained to the priesthood in 2009. Not good in a country where the average age of Priests is 62 and nearing retirement. That is the ‘nearing extinction’ that I am referring to. I’ve always thought that the Catholic church should allow priests to be married, I think that the celibacy rule excludes quite a number of men that are religious and devout but would also like to raise a family. I have a relative who left the priesthood after 26 years to marry and have his own family. Finally... I opened my post saying that ‘rigorous psychological testing should be given to every person whose careers include the care and welfare of children’

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irishathens | Apr 14, 2010, 11:26 AM EDT
Screenings ok but if priests are not allowed some form of sexuality we do not stop eventual problems.

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donal1951 | Apr 14, 2010, 09:57 AM EDT
Back in my day in the USA,seminary training often began at the secondary school level, which meant candidates were too young to be screened properly and were themselves abuse targets. It makes more sense to me for seminaries, by and large, to be part of a university, as the Episcopalians often do, than as stand-alone colleges. That allows seminarians more interaction with the real world. Perhaps too, seminary hopefuls, with exceptions allowed for older men, should be required to get a regular bachelor's degree before commencing study for the priesthood. I do strongly approve of the screenings no matter what. Candidates must be thoroughly vetted.

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Carroll09 | Apr 14, 2010, 09:36 AM EDT
Hyattsville- for your information,priests are most certainly not on the verge of extinction.The statistics show that worldwide the number is increasing.Furthermore, there are various Eastern Catholic Rites,in communion with Rome,which do allow priests to marry.However,the statistics show that many of these are having trouble attracting vocations themselves; celibacy is no more the cause of paedophilia than marriage is a guarantee against it- a paedophile will seek situations where they have easy access to children, whether via marriage, priesthood, or as a married minister.

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barneyjo | Apr 13, 2010, 05:51 PM EDT
Permitting Priests and other Religious to marry and remain within the Church is no bad thing. However, it should not be seen as the final cure for all ills that have beset the Church. Paedophilia has been part of the human condition since the dawn of man. You cannot eliminate it, but you can seek to limit the opportunities for Pedophiles to operate.

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ShamrockMiss | Apr 13, 2010, 11:58 AM EDT
I agree. Let's not forget that many people involved in the abuse of children were also religious sisters and lay staff. This is a good beginning, but it should also be extended to all parish staff. We've seen a fair number of cases in the U.S. in non-Catholic churches where the perpetrators were lay music ministers, Sunday school teachers, etc.

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hyattsville | Apr 13, 2010, 11:11 AM EDT
I believe that rigorous psychological testing should be given to every person whose careers include the care and welfare of children. I also believe that Priests should be allowed to marry once and for all if the Catholic church is to have a future, they are on the verge of extinction after all.

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