Cardinal Donald Wuerl took a weary, penitential and conciliatory tone in a letter to his priests in the Archdiocese of Washington this week.
Cardinal Wuerl has faced growing criticism over what had long been seen as a strong point of his record, his handling of sexually abusive priests. Adding to the sense of crisis is a growing in-house Vatican challenge to the authority of the cardinal’s close ally, Pope Francis.
“Dear brother in the Lord, I hope you will sense something of my anguish for those who have suffered and my sorrow for any of my failures to be there for both the abused and all who now feel a sense of alienation,” Cardinal Wuerl wrote Thursday in advance of a scheduled Labor Day meeting with priests. “In my heart, I now ask myself what is the way I can best serve this Church that I, too, much love.”
He asked forgiveness for unspecified “errors in judgment.”
A spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for further comment. Cardinal Wuerl offered his pro forma resignation to the pope in 2015, as required under church law for all bishops reaching age 75, but it’s up to the pope to decide when to accept it.
Cardinal Wuerl said the church’s prayers are first for the victims of abuse, and he recounted meeting with and crying with victims and their families over the decades.
His letter includes apologies for unspecified strains in his relations with priests, saying he hopes to mend things in their upcoming meeting.
“In the rush to get information to you, I failed to share fully with you my spiritual and fraternal care and offer you and our faithful people a strong sign of pastoral leadership,” he wrote.
A confidant of Pope Francis and leading cleric in the American church, Cardinal Wuerl faces growing criticism over two massive scandals.
His predecessor, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, was barred from ministry over allegations of child sexual abuse, but many now are questioning what Cardinal Wuerl knew about Cardinal McCarrick’s long-rumored sexual exploitation of young adult seminarians.
And Cardinal Wuerl’s reputation as a pioneer of zero tolerance toward sexual abusers has been challenged by an explosive Aug. 14 report by a Pennsylvania statewide grand jury. The jury looked at his record as bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006.
It said he allowed a known child molester to remain in ministry, reinstated another after he received psychiatric treatment for pedophilia, presided over a settlement agreement that required two brothers to keep quiet about their abuse by a third priest, and arranged payments from the diocese for that priest after his release from prison.
Peter Smith: petersmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416; Twitter @PG_PeterSmith.
First Published: September 1, 2018, 3:45 a.m.
