the Buffalo vocation office's recommended readings

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 26, 2003

As disheartening as the new appointments to positions of influence in the Rochester vocation office may be (see Off the Record, March 22), the situation in the neighboring Diocese of Buffalo does not appear that much better. The vocation office there publishes a list of recommended books for the prospective seminarian.

While it is gratifying to see the Catechism of the Catholic Church and a handful of works by saints and authors like Fr. Benedict Groeschel recommended, one observes that many of the books on the list do not appear all that conducive to a young man's faith and morals. CDF has deemed the writings of two of the recommended authors (Leonardo Boff and Anthony de Mello) to be harmful to the faith. The problems of two other recommended authors (Archbishop Weakland and Monika Hellwig) are too well known to comment upon. Philip Keane, according to this website, asserts in one recommended book that teenage masturbation is normal. It is doubtful that The Wild Man's Journey by Richard Rohr will introduce the savage seminarian to the three ages of the interior life. Jeremy Taylor's Dream Work: Techniques for Discovering the Creative Power in Dreams might induce the sane seminarian to dream of transferring to another diocese.

Pity the orthodox applicant who must endure such reading, and the poorly catechized applicant who will be deformed by it. Pity, too, the souls of the men who compiled the list, especially if they have the power to accept or reject applicants to the seminary.