Wuerl won’t speak; DiNardo back here
Two leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States with Pittsburgh connections were in the public eye Saturday, days after the release of a grand jury report that detailed decades of sexual abuse by priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses.
A spokesman for Cardinal Donald Wuerl of the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., criticized in the report for shielding priests who were abusing children during his 18 years as Pittsburgh’s bishop, confirmed that Cardinal Wuerl will not give a scheduled keynote address at the World Meeting of Families in Ireland.
And Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, a former local priest who now leads the Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston, led a Mass at his old church and briefly addressed the report.
Cardinal DiNardo, who also is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was in town for an alumni event for the Bishop’s Latin School. He previoulsy served as pastor at St. John and Paul parish in Franklin Park and told parishioners there during the Saturday night Mass that the church must respond to the report with “grace and discipline.”
“We’re not just economic and NGO — we’re the church, and when we mess up, we mess up badly,” Cardinal DiNardo told a near-capacity crowd. “And so therefore, we have to rely on Jesus and then do the normal things that people have suggested.
“You would probably not be surprised that I have seen some intense suggestions myself as president of the bishops’ conference,” he said. “Some of them phrased colorfully, some have been phrased beautifully, heartfelt, and some of them, just downright obscene, and maybeI deserve it.”
Cardinal DiNardo did not speak to reporters following Mass. Bishop Zubik, who also attended, said the cardinal “feels particularly sensitive” about addressing the grand jury report because he does not serve in thePittsburgh diocese.
On the other hand, Cardinal Wuerl made news Saturday for a decision not to speak at all. The Irish Times first reported that Cardinal Wuerl, who was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006, had withdrawn from the World Meeting of Families conference without giving a reason. Cardinal Wuerl was to give a talk titled “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World” in Dublin on Wednesday.
“I can confirm that Cardinal Wuerl will not be attending the World Meeting of Families. We are declining further comment at this time,” Chieko Noguchi, director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Washington said in an email.
In a lengthy report, the grand jury faulted Cardinal Wuerl for allowing accused priests to continue in ministry. Some Catholics have called for Cardinal Wuerl’s resignation. Last week, a petition began circulating online to remove his name from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry. As of Saturday, more than 5,700 people had signed it and the goal was to gather 7,500 signatures.
Asked about the petition, Bishop Zubik said he contacted principal Luke Crawford and asked for an assessment from the community.
“The board of education is going to be doing a response based on that petition,” Bishop Zubik said. “I’m going to wait for the response from them, and then we’ll make a response accordingly.”
Questions also have been raised about whether Cardinal Wuerl knew about the sexual misconduct allegations against Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, his predecessor as archbishop of Washington.
In June, a church panel substantiated claims that Cardinal McCarrick, while serving as a priest in New York 47 years ago, sexually abused an altar boy.
Last month, Pope Francis accepted Cardinal McCarrick’s resignation, suspended him from public ministry and ordered him into seclusion.
Cardinal McCarrick remains a priest pending the outcome of a Vatican trial.