Seminary Story ‘Out of Context’

While I find myself grateful to The Times for expending the time and energy to report on what a Roman Catholic seminary college might look like in the 1990s (“Seminary Days,” Ventura County Life, May 30), I must also express my dismay at what I consider misquote and words taken out of context, especially in the section regarding “Celibacy.”

The seminary considers it healthy for a man to fall in love any time during the course of his lifetime; it is the normal experience of most human beings.

The article almost implicates that the seminary would consider “falling in love” a matter of formation requirement. I found the aside--”so that he could learn to overcome the associated sexual urges”--to be offensive and indeed sexist.

These are not my words, nor the seminary’s thinking or approach.

I also found the manner of reporting about priests and seminarians who “lapse” in celibate commitment also to be flip and cavalier, probably the result of trying to create a certain “hip” tone throughout the feature article.

THE REV. RICHARD KREKELBERG, Vice Rector, Dean of Formation, St. John’s Seminary College,Camarillo