Steve Ruark / AP
Wuerl: 'I would never call people struggling with their faith bad Catholics'
RELIGION

Forming the Faith

 How will the pope handle questions about the church's sex scandals and academic freedom at Catholic universities? Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl discusses the challenges.

 

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Back in 2004, Roman Catholic Bishop Donald Wuerl traveled often to Rome to work with the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, led at the time by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Both were scholars, both were of German decent, and they worked well together. Two years later, after Ratzinger had become Pope Benedict XVI, he appointed Wuerl archbishop of Washington, D.C., a post considered by many the de facto Vatican spokesman position in the United States.

Wuerl was well placed for the position. Having led the Pittsburgh diocese for 21 years, he rescued its parishes from a $2 million deficit and wrote a book on Catholic teachings that became a best-seller. He was lauded for his strong record in fighting to remove priests involved in the church's sexual abuse scandals. Compared to the populist personas of their predecessors, Benedict and Wuerl are both considered traditionalists who hold conservative views on Catholic doctrine and emphasize the importance of teaching to confront new challenges like dwindling church attendance and the dilution of social teachings.

Just days before the pontiff's arrival in America, Wuerl invited NEWSWEEK's Daniel Stone and Eve Conant for a rare interview inside his home—a renovated church attic—to discuss the challenges facing the Catholic Church in America, Wuerl's relationship with the pope and his expectations for the upcoming trip. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You first met Ratzinger in 1985, but just now you mentioned you had an interesting interaction with him soon after he became pope.
Archbishop Donald Wuerl:
This was back in 2005 in January, when he was still Prefect of the Congregation. He was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. I was in Rome for some work that had to do with a number of things. One of the items was at his congregation, and in the course of the work he looked in to see how everything was going, offer words of encouragement. We were delighted. And off he went. Who would have thought that several months later that he would be pope. [Five months later] I went over to the general audience and stood in line with the other bishops to say hello to him. And when I went up to greet him, he said, "Did you ever finish that project?" [Laughs] I was very complimented that he even remembered, but he seemed genuinely interested in what he set out to do.

And you replied?
I said, "Uhhh, we're working on it."

Because you hadn't finished, had you?
Well, it was a work in progress.

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  • Posted By: dchappy@hotmail.com @ 04/19/2008 2:39:06 PM

    AFTER ALL A COWARD HAS COME OUT OF THE LUXURIOUS CAVE WITH A COSTLY SUN GLASS AND A COSTLY ROB BEING WELCOMED BY A WOLF WHOSE WHOLE CABNET WAS AND IS FULL OF HOMOSEXUALS IN CLUDING ALL THE BISHOPS AND CARDINAL AND MINISTERS AND ALL CHURCH PEOPLE. THIS COWARD IF KNEW HIS JOB AS TO WHAT POPE MEANS SHOULD HAVE KICKED SOME BASTARD BISHOPS RIGHT ON THE SPOT THOISE AT FAULT AND SHOULD HAVE GIVEN A TIGHT SLAP ON THE PRESIDENT TO HAVE KEPT THE GAYS AND LEISBIANS IN THE CABINATE. IF HE COULD NOT DO THAT THEN SHOULD HAVE HAVE SAID WHAT CHRISTNITY THE RELIGION MEANS AND ASKED ALL CHRISTIAN TO KICK OUT THESE BLOODY INCESTERS OUT OF AMERICA AND GO TO THEIR COUNTRY IF AT ALL THEY HAVE ANY. IOT IS A SAME THAT THE MIGHTY LEADER ADOLF HILTLER OF HIS COUNTRY GOT THESE SWINES (THE SON HAVING SEX WITH MOTHER AND DAUGHTER WITH FATHER AND BROTHER WITH OWN SISTER ) OUT OF HIS COUNTRY AND THIS FOOL COULD NOT WARN THE CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES TO REFRAIN FROM MIXING WITH THIS DECEASED CRIMALS OF THE LOWEST ORIGINAL OF SO CALLED HUMAN BUT INFACT ANIMALS. ISN' IT A SHAME FOR A POPE WHO EVEN CAN N'T SPEAK THE TRUTH ON THE FACE OF THE CULPRITS. IS HE THE SAME WHO DEFAMED A PROPHET AND THEN SEEKS TO BE PARDONED. HELL WITH THIS RELIGION WITH GAY LEISBIANS AND POPE WITH ALL BISHOPS AND CHURCH PEOPLE WITH SEX SCANDLE ALL OVER THE WORLD THAT PROPHETJESUS(PEACE BE UPON HIS SOUL) WOULD HAVE WOULD HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE AND WOULD HAVE PRAYED TO GOD TO ELLIMINATE THE FOLLOWERS FROM THE EARTH, WHICH I AM SURE HIS SOUL MUST BE NOW PRAYING.

    MR. EDITOR NEWS WEEK TRY AND BLCKOUT MY COMMENT AS YOU NORMALLY DO TO MY COMMENTS IF YOU DON'T KEEP IT THE WHY YOU ASK FOR IT. YOU EXPECT ME TO KISS YOU AND WRITE GOOD THINGS ABOUT A GROSSLY WRONG THING. FORGET IT, YOU TAKE TO BLACK OUT AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I WRITE ABOUT YOU AND YOU NACKED WIFE THAT YOU KEEP IN YOUR HOUSE.. D C HAPPY



  • Posted By: dchappy@hotmail.com @ 04/19/2008 2:38:49 PM

    AFTER ALL A COWARD HAS COME OUT OF THE LUXURIOUS CAVE WITH A COSTLY SUN GLASS AND A COSTLY ROB BEING WELCOMED BY A WOLF WHOSE WHOLE CABNET WAS AND IS FULL OF HOMOSEXUALS IN CLUDING ALL THE BISHOPS AND CARDINAL AND MINISTERS AND ALL CHURCH PEOPLE. THIS COWARD IF KNEW HIS JOB AS TO WHAT POPE MEANS SHOULD HAVE KICKED SOME BASTARD BISHOPS RIGHT ON THE SPOT THOISE AT FAULT AND SHOULD HAVE GIVEN A TIGHT SLAP ON THE PRESIDENT TO HAVE KEPT THE GAYS AND LEISBIANS IN THE CABINATE. IF HE COULD NOT DO THAT THEN SHOULD HAVE HAVE SAID WHAT CHRISTNITY THE RELIGION MEANS AND ASKED ALL CHRISTIAN TO KICK OUT THESE BLOODY INCESTERS OUT OF AMERICA AND GO TO THEIR COUNTRY IF AT ALL THEY HAVE ANY. IOT IS A SAME THAT THE MIGHTY LEADER ADOLF HILTLER OF HIS COUNTRY GOT THESE SWINES (THE SON HAVING SEX WITH MOTHER AND DAUGHTER WITH FATHER AND BROTHER WITH OWN SISTER ) OUT OF HIS COUNTRY AND THIS FOOL COULD NOT WARN THE CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES TO REFRAIN FROM MIXING WITH THIS DECEASED CRIMALS OF THE LOWEST ORIGINAL OF SO CALLED HUMAN BUT INFACT ANIMALS. ISN' IT A SHAME FOR A POPE WHO EVEN CAN N'T SPEAK THE TRUTH ON THE FACE OF THE CULPRITS. IS HE THE SAME WHO DEFAMED A PROPHET AND THEN SEEKS TO BE PARDONED. HELL WITH THIS RELIGION WITH GAY LEISBIANS AND POPE WITH ALL BISHOPS AND CHURCH PEOPLE WITH SEX SCANDLE ALL OVER THE WORLD THAT PROPHETJESUS(PEACE BE UPON HIS SOUL) WOULD HAVE WOULD HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE AND WOULD HAVE PRAYED TO GOD TO ELLIMINATE THE FOLLOWERS FROM THE EARTH, WHICH I AM SURE HIS SOUL MUST BE NOW PRAYING.

    MR. EDITOR NEWS WEEK TRY AND BLCKOUT MY COMMENT AS YOU NORMALLY DO TO MY COMMENTS IF YOU DON'T KEEP IT THE WHY YOU ASK FOR IT. YOU EXPECT ME TO KISS YOU AND WRITE GOOD THINGS ABOUT A GROSSLY WRONG THING. FORGET IT, YOU TAKE TO BLACK OUT AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I WRITE ABOUT YOU AND YOU NACKED WIFE THAT YOU KEEP IN YOUR HOUSE.. D C HAPPY



  • Posted By: paulte @ 04/17/2008 3:06:42 PM

    Wuerl is a good example of the poor quality of bishops in the USA and why the Church had such a bad problem with sex abuse by the clergy. I'm no Catholic basher but I do believe that the Church does deserve one big black eye for the sex abuse scandal. The reason being that the bishops allowed homosexuals to flow into the clergy. It was widely known that many seminaries were termed "lavender" with rampant sexual misbehavior. Should it be any surprise then that sexually sick priests would prey on the young?

    The Church clearly lost her way after the Second Vatican Council. You cannot have a celibate clergy without strict rules in place. If one examines the history of the abuse scandal, one will see a rather small problem of sex abuse among the clergy before the Council but after 1970 when the decay set into the seminaries, the problem escalated. It actually declined somewhat after the papacy of JPII who tried to restore some order and appoint conservative bishops. But the rogues were already in the priesthood.

    At least under Benedict something is being done about homosexuals in the clergy. The real reason for the problem in the Church is clear, homosexuality. 85% of the abuse victims were maleand most were teenagers, a favorite of active homosexuals.

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