Docherty has been charged with breaching the “buffer zone.” Photo: ADF

Measuring the Call: New Study Exposes Strengths and Gaps in U.S. Seminary Assessments

The research also highlights the human complexity of vocation. Respondents were asked how they determine whether a man has sufficiently worked through personal trauma. The answers reveal a pastoral instinct as much as a scientific one: openness to therapy, transparency with formation teams, evidence of growth in prayer and self-awareness, and the ability to integrate past wounds into a mature spiritual life

On the controversy in the German episcopate regarding Leo XIV’s clear “no” to liturgical blessings for gay couples

The Pope’s remarks on same-sex blessings were characteristically nuanced but left little room for ritual experimentation. He acknowledged that all persons may receive God’s blessing but cautioned against the creation of liturgical formulas for couples, a practice he said runs contrary to the 2023 Vatican declaration «Fiducia Supplicans».