You're looking at the end result - the mail gets delivered. If something were to change internally, and the mail would get delivered faster, you wouldn't know why because you're not on the inside - you don't see any of the internal workings. For the seminary, this is the process of the screening, acceptance, and formation of Seminarians; you won't see that from the outside. If you are interested in reading about the formation of Catholic Seminarians, I would recommend reading the document Pastores Dabo Vobis or the USCCB's Program for Priestly Formation.
The "screenings" obviously aren't very rigorous or there wouldn't be this world-wide, decades-old (centuries) pedophilia scandal within the Roman Catholic church.
Some of the screenings that were done before were lacking - some combination of being not strong enough, not enforced well enough (for example, homosexuals have consistently been banned from seminaries - yet most of the abusers are homosexual - thus they were admitted when they should not have been).
The Screenings have only recently become as rigorous as they are. Our understanding of the problem has changed too - we know that it's not only a spiritual problem but also a psychological one - and it's only been more recently still that we know that many of the perpetrators won't be cured - even thirty years ago, we were still listening to the psychologists who were claiming that pedophila/ephebophila can be cured, and at the time that was the prevailing opinion within the medical community.
We won't see the fruits of the most recent strengthening of the screenings and seminary formation for some time - the seminarians who were first accepted under the new rules are only now being ordained. To judge the new screening and formation processes by the current scandals (the fruits of the old system) is to compare apples and oranges.
If you're a seminarian, then "good luck." You'll need it.
Thank you... it's been a fulfilling but also challenging journey thus far. Things like this make it no easier. God Bless you and yours.
A nice, gentlemanly reply. It speaks well for you.
:-)
May God bless you in your seminary years and lead you on to ordination. You are in my prayers.
Pax Christi
ROE
You seem like a pleasant person and I’ve enjoyed talking with you. But to aspire to be “another Christ,” no matter how the words are danced around, does not seem to be a worthwhile goal for any young man.