By Gretchen Keiser

The large number of men studying for the priesthood for the archdiocese of Atlanta right now is good news, priests were told at the Convocation held in late October.

Forty-one candidates are in preparation and they are undergoing extensive tests before being accepted, Father Don Kenny, vocations director of the archdiocese, said October 30.

Dr. Peter Mayfield, who conducts the testing for the archdiocese, said each potential candidate fills out an application, writes a biography and undergoes a personal interview before being tested.

A general intelligence test, Rorschach test, screening for psychopathology, mental illness or emotional difficulties, other screening tests and psychological tools are employed, as are more specialized intelligence tests.

Each candidate has personal interviews with Father Kenny, Dr. Mayfield and three other people who assist the vocations process, a total of five individuals before being accepted, Father Kenny said.

Rectors of the seminaries that receive Atlanta candidates say psychological tests are “the best in the country,” Father Kenny said.

“There is really good help on the way,” Dr. Mayfield told the 150 priests gathered for the Convocation. “Most are quite mature and have their feet on the ground. They look good.”

There are currently 25 American seminarians, nine Irish seminarians, two Vietnamese and five Hispanics studying for Atlanta.

Father Jorge Christancho, parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Christ the King, expressed concern that potential Spanish-speaking candidates for the priesthood needed to be supported by preparation aimed at their special needs and suggested a house of discernment was needed. Some Hispanics need more academic preparation, such as completing high school, he said.

Father Kenny said in a later interview that he thought greater flexibility was possible should a particular candidate need it, such as living in a rectory while completing educational requirements. To date, he said, he has not had an individual come to him seeking the priesthood who also needed a special supportive arrangement. If one came, he said, he would do his best to work with them.

Father Kenny also said there were two objections from the archdiocese to starting a house of study or discernment. One is finances, since the money available for vocations is needed to undergird the cost of seminary training rather than being shifted to a house of study/discernment. The other objection, Father Kenny said, is that other dioceses and religious orders that have used this approach seems to be moving away from it now, toward placing students one on one in a parish with a priest.

Since October 1989, under Father Kenny, the archdiocese has recruited seminarians in Latin America to serve the Hispanic population here and some five men are now in preparation for priesthood as a result.

At the Convocation, Father John Adamski, pastor of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, also raised a question about the ecclesiological model that future priests are being trained with, whether it is consistent from seminary to seminary, and whether it is training priests who can work from a common model with those already serving as priests of the archdiocese.

Father Kenny responded that the archdiocese recently studied four seminaries used to train Atlanta priests and considered the mission and formation students receive. Father Kenny added that some concern had been expressed in the past about the kind of vision developed at Mount St. Mary’s, in Emmitsburg, Md., but that he believed a shift since a new rector took over “has certainly brought (Mount St. Mary’s) into line with the other seminaries we use.”

As a result of the study, Father Kenny said in a later interview, the archdiocese will use three seminaries in the future, St. Vincent de Paul in Boynton Beach, Fla., St. Meinrad’s in Indiana and Mount St. Mary’s. They will no longer use St. Mary’s in Baltimore because of a lack of a Hispanic program, Father Kenny said.

In other comments at the Convocation, priests saw a need to recruit more minority candidates for the priesthood and saw a need for more information about how to plan workloads and support for seminarians who have summer or vacation parish assignments.

Father Kenny said he hopes to hold a workshop for pastors in the spring once it is known where seminarians are assigned for summer work.

His leadership of the Vocations Office was commended by several speakers.