Bishop calls for DNA tests and physical checks as transsexuals infiltrate seminaries

Transsexual women are presenting themselves as men to infiltrate Catholic seminaries, a US bishop has said.

Bishops should now order physical examinations or DNA tests for candidates for the priesthood, Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee advised members of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in a memo.

He said that on more than one occasion women who have undergone sex changes have applied to the priesthood and have been accepted into seminary.

“Recently, the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance was made aware of instances where it had been discovered that a woman living under a transgendered identity had been unknowingly admitted to the seminary or to a house of formation of an institute of consecrated life,” said Archbishop Listecki in his memo.

In one case “the individual’s sacramental records had been fraudulently obtained to reflect her new identity”, said Archbishop Listecki, the chairman of the USCCB’s canonical affairs committee.

He said: “In all instances, nothing in these individuals’ medical or psychological reports had signaled past treatments or pertinent surgeries.”

“Luckily, each case was discovered prior to a celebration of Holy Orders,” continued the archbishop.

He added that he was “encouraged by the committee to alert you to these occurrences so that you will exercise special vigilance as a new year of seminary formation begins”.

The memo was silent on precisely which seminaries had been infiltrated or where they were located.

Archbishop Listecki, a doctor of canon law, reminded his brother bishops that only men “who possess the requisite physical and psychological qualities” may be admitted for training to the priesthood.

He went on to quote the sections of the Code of Canon Law that require bishops to establish moral certitude that such criteria are met.

“Some members of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance observed that a bishop could consider requiring a DNA test or, at a minimum, certification from a medical expert of the bishop’s own choosing, to assure that an applicant is male,” the archbishop said.

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