Some candidates for the priesthood need more psychological evaluation and help than they are currently getting, and some U.S. bishops ought to defer more to the formation team at seminaries as to whether a seminarian ought to be ordained, contends a new report from a leading Catholic think tank.

The report, published earlier this week by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, also recommends more stringent requirements around sexual maturity before a candidate receives holy orders, and more resources for those who have special needs, such as autism or attention deficit disorder.

The goal, the study’s authors say, is to more effectively identify candidates who shouldn’t become priests and to help candidates who should become priests prepare better for celibacy and parish life.

“The longer one spends engaged in the work of priestly formation, the more likely we are to have to endure the excruciating experience of watching a man be ordained who, in one’s strong judgment, should not be,” states the report, which was authored by two experts in seminary formation. “For the good of all involved, the seminarian included, we must move beyond a fixation on numbers and insist on the quality of the men being called.”

Titled “Do You Know Them to Be Worthy?,” a reference to the question a bishop asks a seminary rector or vocations director during the rite of ordination, the report offers 12 recommendations for those involved in seminary formation. For instance, one proposal urges seminaries to make clear to candidates that they must disclose “personal issues” to formation staff as an obligation out of “love for the Church.”

The co-authors drew their conclusions from a 2024 study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) on how “seminaries and dioceses assess seminarians’ suitability for ordination.”

The study’s forward, written by former McGrath director and Notre Dame theologian John Cavadini, situates the report’s significance squarely in the context of the clergy sex abuse crisis. Cavadini writes that the emphasis of quality over quantity that has guided McGrath’s work on seminary formation “will create an ecclesial culture where sexual abuse is less likely to occur and where, when it does, its consequences for victims and the whole People of God are addressed in a timely and pastorally effective way.”

‘We Can Be Better’

Asked by the Register how widespread the problems in U.S. seminary formation they identified are, the report’s co-authors described them as weaknesses in an otherwise healthy system of preparing men for the priesthood.

“My sense is that actually the vast majority of men currently in preparation and formation are probably likely very solid candidates. It's often more a question of can we nonetheless meet their needs to get them as well prepared as possible?” said Father Thomas Berg, a former seminary formator and moral theology professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of New York, who co-authored the report.

Timothy Lock, a psychologist and director of psychological services at St. Joseph’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of New York and co-author of the report, said current seminarians “are normal guys” who come to the seminary with weaknesses prevalent in the larger culture, and that most are getting the kind of attention they need to deal with problems and grow spiritually.

“I think the Catholic Church in America should be very proud of the positive advances in seminary formation for our seminarians and for our priests. In the United States, we're doing an excellent job forming priests,” said Lock. “But we can be better.” 

“This report is not an alarm bell,” he added. “This report is a clarion call to greatness.” 

Psychology and Special Needs

Even so, the report says that seminaries “are often underserved by the psychological sciences,” that “assessments of suitability are often fragmented,” that seminary staff “fail to take full advantage of the initial psychological evaluation of candidates,” and that some programs fail to identify and address “[s]exual compulsivity, unresolved trauma, boundary issues, or deep-seated psychosexual confusion,” which the report says can lead to “premature advancement” toward the priesthood.

It also identifies what it calls a “wide variation” in the “quality” of psychological evaluations used in seminaries, with some offering “only a superficial overview of personality, without meaningful insight,” and notes that most of the psychologists preparing the evaluations are not Catholics.

Noting the increase of the prevalence of autism among seminarians, the study acknowledged associated challenges like “reduced empathy” and “cognitive and emotional rigidity.” But while the study noted that 20% of bishops consider autism to be a disqualifying condition for ordination, the authors advised greater research and support.

Father Berg and Lock also suggested in the report that being medicated for ADHD or OCD should “not be considered an impediment to ordination.” 

Sexuality and Celibacy

The report’s longest recommendations pertain to human sexuality.
The report notes that while most U.S. bishops surveyed are not comfortable ordaining a man who is sexually attracted to males, about 22% say they are, “provided he is firmly committed to celibacy.” The report recommends that bishops “foster and actively engage in the necessary conversations that will move the Church toward a more unified discernment of how the Holy Spirit is guiding us on this question.”

The report also addresses at length sexual activity by seminarians, including masturbation and pornography use, identifying it as a problem for future priests if not identified and dealt with in seminary.

When a seminarian reaches the configuration stage (typically the final four years of formation before ordination to the diaconate), he should be sexually continent (meaning an “absence of sexual indulgence and activity) for several months at a time, the report says, and when approaching ordination as a deacon, a man should be “aiming at a twelve-month period … with few if any lapses.”

“It would appear obvious that advancing a man to [ordination] who has not been able to sustain continence for lengthy stretches of time or who is habitually or compulsively lapsing into unchaste behavior is problematic,” the report states, citing the dangers of “rationalization or concealment” in such a man’s priesthood. 

Are seminaries adequately forming seminarians for psychosexual maturity?

The study finds what it calls “a startling disconnect” between the confidence of bishops (85%), seminary rectors (84%), spiritual directors (81%), and vocation directors (72%) versus the confidence of mental health professionals (32%) on that score.

The goal, Lock told the Register, is that seminarians reach maturity in these areas even if they fall short of perfection.

“The lay people do not want priests who are addicted to pornography, masturbating every night, and hooking up with guys on Grindr,” said Lock. “The people in the pews want holy priests. We want to grow in our relationship with the Lord and live a life of virtue. This double-life sort of mentality needs to go. That ends badly.” 

Lock said the study authors’ goal is “that men in seminary are able to grow in all elements of their life.” He noted that the study’s strong proposals are a response to a wider culture with a “degraded” understanding of sexuality, are aimed at forming men who are free from sexual addition “so that they can engage people in freedom and in health.”

“In some ways, the goal of priestly formation is developing spiritual fathers,” Lock said. “And that means an adult man who can look at his flock with pure love.”