WELCOME TO C.R.T. COLLABORATIVE

We are a group of clinical consultants, researchers, and trainers with expertise in the psychological assessment of clergy candidates in the Catholic Church. Given the current priority on admitting and ordaining healthy men to the clergy, we seek to establish a secure and HIPAA compliant review process for psychological reports completed for clergy and clergy candidates. Quality Assurance reviews are customary for most organizations in order to improve processes and assess the ability to achieve targeted organizational goals.  Contracting with an outside entity ensures an objective review with greater accuracy of examination. Such a step would no doubt demonstrate a good faith effort to do all that was possible to achieve the highest level of screening accuracy for the Diocese and wider Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB, 2015) have established psychological assessment policies and guidelines to screen for clergy candidates who have behaviors incompatible with ministry and the clergy vocation. How effective have these assessments been in helping to predict behavior and screen for problems? What if any elements in the assessment process require measurement and alteration? How can the assessment process be improved for greater accuracy and utility of information? Such essential questions need to be asked in a time when the Church continues to struggle with cases of clergy scandal. Because of this, it is prudent to ask what the psychological assessment missed and why.