Are Successful Applicants to the Priesthood Psychologically Healthy?

Abstract

The current investigation evaluated psychological and personality profiles of successful applicants to a major Roman Catholic religious order. The MMPI-2 and 16PF were administered to 68 applicants between 1990 and 2004 who subsequently entered seminary. Results indicate that these applicants to the priesthood were generally well-adjusted as well as being socially responsible, interpersonally sensitive and sociable. Findings also suggest some tendency for defensiveness and repression. Furthermore, dealing with perceived negative impulses such as anger and hostility may also be a concern for many of these men.

Are Successful Applicants to the Roman Catholic Deaconate Psychologically Healthy?

“…However, results also suggest that they tend to maintain defensive (especially repressive) styles. These findings are particularly noteworthy as they reflect fairly similar patterns found among successful applicants to the priesthood in previous research (Plante et al 2005). Furthermore, successful applicants to the priesthood and deaconate of the Catholic Church both tended to be generally well-adjusted.…”

“…1. The composite profile includes the current results for deacon applicants as well as the priest applicant profile results from a recent study by Plante et al (2005) for comparison. Sten scores from the participants were compared to national norms using mean sten scores of 5.5 and standard deviations of 3 (Cattell et al 1993).…”

“…Yet this information is crucial because, as the need to fill the roles previously held by priests continues to rise, the Church must find psychologically healthy applicants to do so. A number of recent studies have been published that have examined these variables among priests (e.g., Gafford 2000;Kosek 2000;Plante et al 2005). These studies and findings can be used to both model and compare the psychological health of successful deaconate applicants to priest applicants.…”

“…This is indicated by particularly low scores on scales that reveal psychopathology (Plante et al 2005). However, successful priest applicants tend to score high on defensiveness and repression as well as social responsibility and intelligence (Plante et al 2005).…”

Homosexual Applicants to the Priesthood: How Many and Are They Psychologically Healthy?

“…It is important to note that the sample is not necessarily representative of all priest applicants across the country and that applicants were carefully screened for a variety of characteristics before being approved for the psychological evaluation process. The current sample was also used in a previous published paper examining the overall psychological functioning of priest applicants (Plante, Aldridge, & Louie, 2005). In that study, it was determined that applicants to the priesthood were generally well-adjusted as well as being socially responsible, interpersonally sensitive, and sociable as measured by the MMPI-2 (Hathaway & McKinley, 1989).…”