Web propriety - Maynooth seminary

IT is not only the select committee of home affairs in Britain that is worried about the internet. 

There is obviously uneasiness over developments at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where 14 seminarians are being welcomed this week to start training for the priesthood.

The college acknowledges that the recent coverage regarding it had caused disquiet amongst the faithful and stressed that there was “no place in a seminary community for any sort of behavior or attitude which contradicts the teaching and example of Jesus Christ”.

The college trustees, who include the country’s four archbishops and 15 other bishops, have asked the seminary authorities to review the policy regarding the appropriate use of the internet and social media.

There was a time when the students were not even allowed to read the daily newspapers and their contact with the outside world was kept to a minimum.

It is obviously important that developing priests should be abreast of modern developments, but it is understandable that they be urged to use the internet in a way appropriate to their vocation.