A professor at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, has welcomed the new Vatican document dealing with the psychological assessment of candidates for the priesthood. Prof Michael Mullaney, vice-president of the college, described the document (Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in the Admission and Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood) as a “useful clarification, giving guidance on how tests are to be used.”
There was nothing particularly new in the document, said the Professor of Canon Law, as psychological assessments were already occasionally used, in particular to give candidates insights into their own psychological make up.
But Prof Mullaney emphasised that an assessment only gave a “snapshot” of a person at a given time.
“The aim is to give a person an insight into where they are at in their human development,” he told ciNews.
Psychological testing could identify a problem or concern, that might make it clear that the person would not be able to live, for example, a celibate life, because of a difficulty in their own personality, he said.
But the primary aim was to help a candidate grow in themselves. “Everybody who comes through seminary, whether they are ordained or not, should grow as a person.”
Prof Mullaney said that when candidates presented themselves, those responsible for their formation were looking for a “capacity to grow and learn and respond,” and a maturity that was age appropriate. “You expect different things from someone coming to seminary at 20, to someone who is forty or even sixty, as the case can be,” he said.
The testing of candidates was only a small part of the overall formation which touched on all areas of their lives: pastoral, spiritual, human and academic, and all these areas were interconnected.
The Vatican document stressed that the testing was not obligatory, and the candidate is left with the freedom to say whether or not he wants to go through the tests. The results are given to him first, and only with his permission to others.
Prof Mullaney said that as most candidates coming forward for priesthood now are older and have already faced the issue of celibacy before they enter. “Their own experience is a good indicator of how they’ve been able to live celibacy,” he said.
He agreed that while the vocation to the priesthood contained an element of ‘aloneness’, it was an ‘aloneness’ that could be fruitful and made sense. He himself was supported by a “strong spiritual prayer life,” and “a deep relationship with the Lord".+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: CIN)