Cardinal target of abuse anger
As public fury rises over a Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sex abuse and alleged cover-ups by Catholic clergy, one ‘outwardly mild priest’ has become the face of the fiasco
IN THE week since a Pennsylvania grand jury reported on child sex abuse by Catholic priests, Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s reputation has taken a brutal hit.
Wuerl’s upcoming book has been cancelled by the publisher, he abruptly pulled out of his role as keynote speaker at a major global meeting in Ireland, and officials are considering taking his name off a high school in his home town of Pittsburgh, where Wuerl was bishop for 18 years before becoming the archbishop of Washington in 2006.
On Monday, a vandal got ahead of them – covering his name in red spray paint.
Wuerl, an outwardly mild priest and meticulous manager who picks every word carefully when he speaks, has become for the moment the face of a ballooning crisis in the Catholic Church. And unlike the quiet protests and longings for change of past decades, Catholics in 2018 are demanding accountability – and fast.
“Particularly among people who have stuck with the church this long, who have been through it all, they are saying: ‘God, we cannot go through this again’,” said John Allen, who has written books on the Vatican and the US church and now runs the Catholic website Crux.
“My read is that this crowd is not going to be satisfied with assurances. They want to see something real.”
For the past 18 months, Allen said, mounting scrutiny of the role of two cardinals in allegedly covering up clergy sex abuse in Chile has trained Catholic attention on the church hierarchy. “And now it’s symbolised by the case of Donald Wuerl.”
By “it”, Allen is not referring to the abuse by priests, who in most cases were ultimately removed from church life for alleged abuse decades ago. He is referencing cover-ups by their leaders – bishops and cardinals who have not been held accountable for moving abusers around and continuing to protect and pay them, favouring protection of the church over devastated victims.
The 900-page report mentions Wuerl more than 200 times and challenges the image he tried to project of a leader who stood with victims.
It says in some instances he went well beyond the norm in trying to push out predators, as when he went all the way to the Vatican to fight an order that he reinstate a priest named Anthony Cipolla – and won.
But in other cases, the report alleges that Wuerl coddled flagged priests – in one case permitting an accused abuser to remain in ministry and in another presiding over a settlement agreement that banned the victims from speaking.
It cites the case of William O’malley, who Wuerl gave a church job and loaned money even though the priest had sexual trouble in his past. Victims later came forward alleging abuse in the years after Wuerl had returned O’malley to ministry.
On Monday, Wuerl’s spokesperson, Ed Mcfadden, and his attorney, Mickey Pohl, said the grand jury report had painted the cardinal unfairly, when he was simply following the norms of the day – whether that was coming to confidential settlements with victims or not reporting certain complaints to police.
“The report intentionally seeks to create the worst possible outcome in media coverage for someone like his eminence,” Mcfadden said.
Some priests have said they plan to appeal the report in court in autumnthe Pittsburgh Diocese – and Wuerl – have been a focus since the report’s release last Tuesday. Of the six dioceses included, it had the largest number of accused priests named – 68 from the diocese, and another 22 priests and brothers from religious orders in the area.
Pope Francis on Monday took what some abuse advocates say is an unprecedented step towards accountability. In the first papal letter ever to the world’s Catholics on the topic of clergy sex abuse, Francis ended his silence on the Pennsylvania report and said church leaders “showed no care for the little ones”.
The letter did not list specific actions he would take, but the pope clearly described abuse as “crimes” and used the term “cover-up” twice, noted Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who served on a papal commission about clergy sexual abuse of children. “There is an acceptance that the cover-up is a fact,” she said.
“Until now, deniers and defenders within the clergy and outside have denied the cover-up. Now the pope actually said it: It’s a fact.”
Pressure from the outside is increasing the possibility for change, she said. “Now the fact that ordinary Catholics are beginning to raise their voices as well, that’s putting pressure that hasn’t been before. There is so much anger.”
As is required of all bishops, Wuerl submitted his retirement paperwork when he turned 75, in 2015. If anything, his star has risen since, especially as an ally of Francis. He now sits on the Vatican’s powerful bishop-picking committee and is understood to be a confidant of the pope.
The decision on Wuerl’s job standing rests exclusively with Francis, and Vatican spokespeople have ignored requests for comment.
The pope is also reviewing the case of Mccarrick, who was the subject of widespread rumours about inappropriate behaviour among seminarians for many years.
With Mccarrick’s suspension in June came news that New Jersey bishops had settled two cases in court with adult accusers in 2004 and 2007. Wuerl has come under intense questioning about whether he knew about the rumours or settlements, and he has denied it.
Meanwhile, since the release of the grand jury report, Wuerl is finding himself increasingly embattled in the Washington Archdiocese.
On Monday afternoon, Wuerl called a meeting with his priest council. Several priests in the archdiocese who spoke on condition that their names not be used said opinion on the cardinal is mixed: some feel his efforts on abuse aren’t being portrayed fairly, while others think they were insufficient.
Critics have complained that Wuerl showed a disturbing tone-deafness after the grand jury report was released on August 14.
He immediately put out a statement saying he believed the report “confirms that I acted with diligence, with concern for the victims and to prevent future acts of abuse”.
That night the archdiocese posted a website, Thewuerlrecord. com, defending the cardinal. It has since been taken down.
Later that week, Wuerl said on FOX-5DC that he didn’t think “this is some massive, massive crisis”.
Catholic officials in Pittsburgh on Wednesday announced that a city high school would remove the words “Cardinal Wuerl” from its name.
Wuerl requested his name be removed from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, the Diocese of Pittsburgh said on Wednesday.
“In light of the circumstances today and lest we in any way detract from the purpose of Catholic education… I respectfully ask you to remove my name from it,” Wuerl wrote to the school’s board of directors.
“In this way, there should be no distraction from the great success of the school and, most importantly, the reason for the school – the students.”
The Reverend Nick Vaskov, a spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Diocese, said the school’s board met and discussed the removal of Wuerl’s name. Wuerl had been slated to give the keynote speech this week at the World Meeting of Families, a high-profile event held once every three years. The talk was titled “The Welfare of the Family Is Decisive for the Future of the World”.
John Garvey, president of Catholic University – the US bishops’ university – said reform needed to be lay-led. “Most bishops are good and holy men, but as a group they have lost a lot of trust because of the actions of the ones being reported on,” he said. – The Washington Post
Catholics in 2018 are demanding accountability – and fast