But according to an investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, using data from the Royal Commission's investigation, "seminaries had become places where repressed young men would experiment sexually with one another with little consequence, before some of them turned their attention to children in their parish," The Age reported.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian bishops' conference, told Crux in August 2018 that "In seeking to combat clericalism, we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Clearly, it requires a radical revision of how we recruit and prepare candidates for ordination. Much has changed in our seminaries, but one has to wonder whether seminaries are the place or way to train men for the priesthood now."
The Age reports that a new "national program of priestly formation" is already being developed and will be considered by the Australian bishop's conference in November.
One change already announced by Church leaders is that seminarians will be subjected to the same training and screening as other Church officials by the Catholic Professional Standards Ltd, a group that safeguards against child sex abuse through trainings and audits of Catholic bishops, priests and religious. The independent group is chaired by a lay board; its members are the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia.
Sheree Limbrick, chief executive of Catholic Professional Standards Limited, told The Age that a rethinking of seminary formation should also include "ongoing formation, support and supervision" of seminarians and priests, and that the audit process would help hold seminarians and priests accountable.
Francis Sullivan, the previous head of the church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, told The Age that within the Church there are already "quite a lot of conversations about whether the seminary model is fit for purpose any more – that a revamp of the system is long overdue."
"I think people like Archbishop Mark Coleridge are seriously considering whether the system works or whether there should be more of a focus on seminarians being integrated into academic and parish life," he said.
The Age reports that Coleridge has previously mentioned a possible "apprenticeship model" of formation for seminarians, where they would study the same classes but have a closer relationship with a parish on the ground level. Coleridge declined further comment to The Age on the subject.
Shane Healy, a spokesman for the Melbourne Archdiocese, told The Age there was "no intention" to close the diocesan seminary, Corpus Christi, and that the bishops and leadership of the school were "committed to Corpus Christi College being a place of excellence in the formation of our future priests."