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Anti-Catholic 'Experts' Fuel Church's Scandals
Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com Thursday, April 4, 2002 Veteran investigative reporter Michael S. Rose has
written a frightening account of the corruption of the Roman Catholic seminary
system in the United States. In "Goodbye! Good Men: How Catholic Seminaries
Turned Away Two Generations of Vocations from the Priesthood" (Acquinas
Publishing), Rose exposes the abuses that have driven honorable men faithful to
the tenets of Roman Catholicism out of the seminaries and given preferential
treatment to homosexuals and others wedded to unorthodox doctrines. In his book,
written before the latest abuse scandals erupted, Rose insists that the alleged
shortage of priests is "artificial and contrived," the result of policies
adopted by scores of dioceses for many years - policies that turned the seminary
system on its head - and have now driven a stake through the heart of the
Catholic Church in America.
In her foreword to the book, Alice Von Hilderbrand,
Ph.D., writes: "This book holds the key to the phenomenon which, to many, is
also an enigma: Why are so many seminaries empty? Michael S. Rose has the
courage - a courage many Church leaders lack - of giving us the fearful but
uncontestable answer: because vice has penetrated into many of them, and those
who do not condone vice are excluded. True vocations are 'disqualified.'"
Anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, who wants to
understand the causes of the current scandals in the church couldn't find a
better explanation than that contained within the pages of "Goodbye! Good Men."
In this first of a three-part series, NewsMax.com
looks at some of the roadblocks placed in front of "good men" seeking to enter
the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Roadblocks to the Priesthood To anyone's eyes, Rich Birch would have appeared to be the perfect
candidate for the priesthood. With a reputation as a conservative teacher of
religion at one of his diocese's parochial schools in Covington, Ky., he
encountered reluctance on the part of the diocese's vocations director even to
allow him to begin the application process - a reluctance Birch believes was the
result of his reputation as an orthodox teacher of the Catholic faith.
Birch was sent to the Behavioral Science Center in Cincinnati for a
psychological evaluation, a precondition required before his application could
be considered.
At the center he was evaluated in a brief meeting by one Dr. Joseph Wicker.
Two months later he was informed that Wicker has written that although Birch "is
an intelligent person who scored high on the mental ability tests, he is
deficient in emotional and personality areas that would not make him a suitable
candidate for ordained ministry."
Wicker went on to say Birch was "a man of deep anger, somewhat socially
maladjusted and is sexually immature." Birch, he added, "cannot deal with his
inner feelings. I suspect he is only using the ordained ministry to keep from
dealing with his inner feelings." The conclusion: "He is not sincere in seeking
the ordained ministry and I cannot recommend him."
He ended by saying if Birch would undergo about a year of "therapy" he
might "consider him at some future time."
Despite having glowing recommendations from those who knew him well,
including his own pastor, he was turned down by the admissions committee because
of Wicker's negative report.
Wicker stymied Birch's vocation. His negative profile followed Birch when
he went to another seminary and applied for admission. Once again Wicker's
evaluation was used as the basis of a turndown.
Something Wicker This Way Comes
So who is Dr. Wicker, this man with the power to turn a deeply devout,
intelligent candidate for the priesthood?
According to the Wanderer, a nationally distributed lay Catholic newspaper,
Wicker was rejecting more candidates for the priesthood than he was approving.
But that's just the beginning. An article by reporter Gregory Flannery, an
ex-seminarian himself, revealed: "Men who wish to become Catholic priests in the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati are first assessed by the Worshipful Master of Mt.
Washington Masonic Lodge 642."
In the May 8, 1991 issue of Mt. Washington Press, a weekly newspaper,
Flannery reported that Wicker was a fallen-away Catholic and noted that
participation in Masonic sects is condemned by the Catholic Church. Wicker also
admitted to being a member of another sect condemned by the church, the
Rosicrucians. When area Catholics complained about the idea of a Masonic master
passing on candidates for the priesthood, Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk
defended him.
In 1988 Birch submitted to a second evaluation by Dr. Frank Miller of
Catholic Social Services in Cincinnati. Miller tested Birch over a five-week
period. This time, Birch passed muster. He is now teaching at a private Catholic
academy in Cincinnati, where Rose reports he is highly regarded by his
co-workers.
Homosexual Agenda
Shocking as it is, this is not an isolated case. Rose reports that another
clinical psychologist, Dr. David J. Brown, screens candidates for the Diocese of
Altoona-Johnstown in Pennsylvania. Dr. Brown, he reveals, "has gone out of his
way to make the case that homosexuality is perfectly normal.
"Testifying before a public school board in State College, he argued on
spiritual grounds for legitimizing homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle in
the public schools there. Brown told the school board that he was 'appalled'
that the school district had excluded known homosexual speakers from Penn State
University from making presentations to teachers at in-service day workshops."
Rose cites a 1999 position statement on psychological evaluation on
candidates for the priesthood issued by the Catholic Medical Association. The
paper, drafted by a force of eight physicians - four of whom are psychiatrists -
a consulting psychologist and a moral theologian, reported: "There are numerous
reports that mental health professionals who do not support the teachings of the
Catholic Church on sexuality have been chosen to evaluate candidates for the
priesthood and reject candidates who do accept the church's teaching on grounds
that they are 'rigid.' There are also reports that some mental health
professionals do not report homosexual attractions and conflicts in candidates
for priesthood to diocesan officials or religious superiors."
NewsMax.com asked Rose if this nonsense was still going on. "Although many
seminaries are 'getting better,' the nonsense is still prolific," he said.
"Orthodox candidates are still being turned away in droves, heterosexual
seminarians are still being sent to psychological counseling and booted from
school, while liberal-minded and pro-gay seminarians are given deferential
treatment, put in charge of others, advanced and ordained."
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