Rev. Thomas V. Berg

I heard a bishop recently describe what his formation team does at his seminary: “They’re there and they keep an eye on the guys.” And I cringed. Priests assigned to seminary formation are not hallway monitors. They are intended to be mentors, teachers, and guides—nuances all captured in . . . . Continue Reading »

One fact that has been overlooked for too long is the connection between priests who abuse minors and priests who are sexually active with adults. Continue Reading »

Representatives elected by the many good men who compose my former religious congregation, the Legionaries of Christ, are currently meeting in Rome in an extraordinary General Chapter. The multi-week meeting was intended to mark the culmination of a three-year period of “profound re-evaluation” and reform initiated in the spring of 2009 when then Pope Benedict XVI requested a canonical visitation of the congregation in response to the turmoil into which it was thrust by revelations of sexual depravities by the congregation’s founder Marcial Maciel. . . . Continue Reading »

Cardinal Velasio de Paolis was named papal delegate to the Legionaries of Christ early in July 2010 to shepherd the congregation through a “process of profound re-evaluation” as mandated in a communiqué from the Holy See to the Legionaries on May 1st of that same year. His appointment followed upon a close scrutiny of all Legionary houses of formation and apostolate”a “canonical visitation””conducted by a team of bishops appointed by the Pope… . Continue Reading »

Neither Beast nor God: The Dignity of the Human Person BY Gilbert Meilaender Encounter, 180 pages, $21.95 SOME MONTHS AGO, the ethics committee on which I sit at the Empire State Stem Cell Board took up a discussion of what “respect for the human embryo” might mean in the current context . . . . Continue Reading »