It could be known as the "Homosexual Cleansing."

It’s tackling the tolerance of practicing homosexuals in Roman Catholic seminaries, something admitted frequently in the past several years by priests and professors.

In fact, there have been those seminary leaders who have informed media that it is all right, that is, "moral" for homosexual students to prepare for the priesthood for homosexuality is a human condition that simply needs disciplining, not expulsion from Catholic seminaries.

That is not the opinion of the new Pope. According to AP’s Rachel Zoll "A Vatican evaluation of American seminaries planned three years ago in response to the clergy sex-abuse crisis is expected to move forward under Pope Benedict XVI."

It’s causing a bit of jitters among Catholic seminary leaders, particularly when realizing that representatives from the Vatican will actually appear on site to question, analyze and report.

Of course, there is a righteous contingent within Roman Catholicism that has been utterly embarrassed and disheartened at the practicing homosexual presence within their own clergy. They have been sickened by children abused by such ordained priests. The Voice of the Faithful in particular has been at the front of the cleansing request, exposing especially child molestation cases nationwide. Voice of the Faithful has been particularly vocal in wanting sexual dysfunction, that is, sexual orientations not in keeping with Scriptures, to be dealt with promptly.

"Church officials conducting the review will inevitably take up complaints that gays are enrolling in large numbers in the seminaries and their sexual activity is tolerated at the schools, experts on Catholicism said. Some Catholics say an atmosphere of sexual permissiveness - for heterosexual and gay seminarians - was a factor in the crisis, which has led to more than 11,000 abuse claims in the past five decades.

"Dean Hoge, a Catholic University sociologist who has spent 30 years studying the priesthood, said seminary rectors are anxious about the review - called an ‘apostolic visitation.’

"’Having the boss show up makes anyone nervous,’ Hoge said."

Devout Catholics reply that there’s nothing to be nervous about if all is on the up and up. If seminaries are not harboring homosexuals, then there should be no problem. Investigations should continue with transparency from both Catholic faculty and enrolled students. However, if there has been a tradition of homosexual tolerance, then there is reason to be "nervous," they contend.

"Vatican officials announced the evaluation in April 2002, after Pope John Paul II convened an emergency summit with U.S. cardinals at the height of the scandal. The visits had been set to begin this fall. Church officials expect that schedule to stay about the same, even with the transition to a new papacy."

Since Pope John Paul II’s illness, many devout Catholics — clergy and laity — have waited patiently for an investigation to take place, realizing that the Pope’s health conditions no doubt delayed the proceedings. However, with Pope Benedict XVI now ensconced, there is expectation that seminaries will be brought to task if they are not complying with Catholic moral expectations for their students.

No doubt those seminary professors who have argued for homosexual priests to continue in the ministry will likewise be confronted with an allowance not baptized as legitimate by Rome.

"More than 200 schools will be evaluated in a process that could take years. The Vatican agency overseeing the project, the Congregation for Catholic Education, already has been given a list of recommended bishops and priests to visit the seminaries. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of the U.S. Military Archdiocese has been appointed to coordinate the review.

"The church considers gay relationships ‘intrinsically disordered.’

"The Rev. James Martin of the Jesuit magazine America says four Vatican sources had told him that, under John Paul, the Vatican was about to issue a decree placing severe restrictions or an outright ban on seminarians who acknowledge they are gay - even if they are celibate."

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Email: joseph_swank@yahoo.com