The idle speculation on this subject and the false claim has been yours. Why would you say that an attempt to conduct DNA sequencing has never been done after I've posted that "strangely sequences are missing from the DNA." How many times have you been to a Catholic mass this century?
Actually I have attended Catholic mass a few times this century with friends. I have no idea how mass is conducted in your parish, although the format is identical, as we all know. The only significant variation IMO that has happened over the past few decades during are changes brought about by the shortage of celibate male priests which has become exceptionally acute. Thus, there are no longer altar "boys" but girls and women and men, as well. Women are now permitted to take a much more active part in the mass, except for key aspects such as the eucharist. The diaconate has become much more active than heretofore. In years past the average rectory would house at least two priests and now many rectories are empty and priests are being stretched thin to accommodate the needs of multiple churches or enlarged parishes. Parishes have been merged and perfectly excellent historic church buildings have been abandoned and demolished.
IMO the chief problem in American Catholicism is not the much-publicized sexual antics of rogue priests (which had been going on for centuries, although well hidden for the most part) but the dire situation regarding recruitment for religious vocational ministries - not only priests, but nuns and cloistered orders. In my home city there are no longer any parochial elementary schools associated with parish churches. All have been merged into a single school which has the enrollment of only the largest parochial elementary school of my childhood.
On the positive, there has been a burst of construction at the two motherhouses of nuns as the various nuns from these orders have been retiring and spending their final years in their motherhouses. I do not exaggerate in saying that they are each now ten times bigger, in square footage, than when I was a child. Every day in the local newspaper there are the obituaries of many of these faithful servants of the church.
The downside, of course, is that they are not being replaced to any meaningful extent. When I was young it was an unusual day when one did not see a priest and/or nun on the streets. In fact, I remember one Saturday evening when we were eating at a local supper club and there was a priest with a nun at the bar. That was not considered to be at all problematic. Nowadays one very rarely encounters a nun in public. They have virtually disappeared from the classrooms and the hospitals.
Speaking of which, in my youth the Catholic hospital was, by far and away, the major health care provider with the public hospital in my city being a much smaller entity. About thirty years ago the Catholic hospital stalled out and stopped growing, at least in terms of physical plant. In the meantime the public hospital has been growing by leaps and bounds and now is a larger entity, both in terms of space and in employment, than the Catholic hospital.
I say these things not as a broad picture of the state of the Catholic Church everywhere, but simply my own personal anecdotal observations.
However, that begs the question of the OP entirely. What do you think is the best method, as a scientist, for determining paternal DNA?
