WASHINGTON — Three days after a conciliatory letter to priests that left some wondering whether resignation was imminent, Cardinal Donald Wuerl took a forward-looking tone Sunday as he addressed a parish in the District of Columbia.
The church needs a “renewed commitment on behalf of all of us,” he said in remarks that included no hint of any plan to step down despite growing criticism of his handling of a widespread child sex abuse scandal in Pittsburgh when he was bishop there.
His comments came toward the end of Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church, where he also installed a new pastor, Monsignor Michael J. Mellone.
As Cardinal Wuerl spoke, about a dozen police cars were parked on streets surrounding the church. A Wuerl spokeswoman said she was unaware of any specific threats against the cardinal and that the police presence was precautionary after protests that took place outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle as the cardinal celebrated Mass on Aug. 26.
The diocese has been protective of the cardinal’s schedule, and no protesters turned up outside Annunciation on Sunday.
Inside, though, one man abruptly shouted, “Shame on you!” He then stormed out of the sanctuary. The outburst came as the cardinal asked the congregation to “hold close in our prayers and our loyalty to Pope Francis.”
“Increasingly it is clear that he is the subject of animosity,” he said.
The cardinal was referring to a recent accusation from inside the Vatican that the pontiff knew about but declined to act on accusations that Cardinal Wuerl’s predecessor in Washington, then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, was sexually abusing young priests and seminarians.
Cardinal Wuerl at first ignored the angry outburst emanating from a rear pew but moments later addressed it.
“Yes, my brothers and sisters, shame. I wish I could redo everything over in my 30 years as a bishop and always get it right. That’s not the case,” he said.
“We know there’s pain and confusion. I wish I could wipe it away, but that’s not how it works,” he said.
He ended the Mass where all Catholic Masses begin, with a confession. He asked forgiveness for unspecified “errors of judgment” and “inadequacies.” For some parishioners, the “confession” fell short because the cardinal did not take responsibility for specific missteps.
“How can you get forgiveness if you don’t say what you’re sorry for?” one parishioner said to a companion as she left church.
The cardinal had confessed “that there as been a terrible evil” in the church, a darkness that begged for a renewal of light that he seemed as yet unsure where to find.
“Where do we go from here as a church?” he asked the congregation. “Where do we go in light of so much that has bruised and hurt all of us?”
In his letter to priests on Thursday, Cardinal Wuerl, who turns 78 year old in November, appeared to be questioning his place, asking himself how he can best serve the church going forward.
Critics inside and outside the church are calling for his resignation, which, technically, he already has given. Nearly three years ago, he wrote a pro forma letter of resignation, as all bishops do on their 75th birthdays. It is up to Pope Francis to decide when to accept it. For cardinals, that seldom occurs before their 80th birthdays when they no longer can vote at conclave.
An explosive Pennsylvania grand jury report last month detailed pervasive sexual abuse in parishes across the state, with the worst abuses occurring in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, some during Cardinal Wuerl’s time as bishop between 1988 and 2006.
The report accused him of allowing a known child molester to remain in ministry, reinstating another after he received psychiatric treatment for pedophilia, negotiating a settlement that required two brothers to keep quiet about abuse by a third priest, and arranging payments from the diocese after an abuser’s release from prison.
Cardinal Wuerl previously had a reputation for taking a hard line on sexual abusers by helping rewrite church procedures for removing abusers.
Washington Bureau Chief Tracie Mauriello: tmauriello@post-gazette.com; 703-996-9292 or on Twitter @pgPoliTweets.
First Published: September 2, 2018, 7:22 p.m.
