Letter 11: Your last letter raised the question of how to handle clergy who prove, after ordination, to have misrepresented...

To my most holy brother Caesarius of Clermont, from his brother Desiderius, Your last letter raised the question of how to handle clergy who prove, after ordination, to have misrepresented their background and qualifications. It is a good question and an uncomfortable one. The honest answer is that our screening before ordination is not as rigorous as it should be. We rely heavily on the recommendations of those who know the candidate, and those recommendations are not always given with the care they deserve. A priest who is well-liked and presentable and who says all the right things can be ordained without adequate examination of his actual theological formation or his history. What I have done in two cases where this came to light after ordination: I suspended the man from ministry and gave him a period of intensive formation — essentially requiring him to do what should have been done before ordination. In one case this was successful and the priest returned to ministry better prepared than he had been. In the other case it became clear during the formation period that the man was simply not suited for the work, and he was eventually released from orders. Neither case was satisfying, but I do not regret either outcome. The alternative — leaving an unprepared priest in charge of a community — would have been worse. Your brother in the faith, Desiderius