WASHINGTON (DC)
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: May 17, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh on Tuesday to be the next archbishop of Washington, D.C., replacing Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a natural diplomat who raised the church's profile in the capital despite the scandal over sexual abuse by priests.
Bishop Wuerl, 65, is well regarded in the Vatican, where he once worked, and by fellow American bishops as a pragmatic conservative, church experts said. In 18 years as bishop of Pittsburgh, he won respect by consulting parishioners in a major reorganization of parishes and by insisting that the Vatican defrock a priest with a history of sexual abuse. ...
Cardinal McCarrick's five and a half years in Washington coincided with a devastating scandal over sexual abuse by priests, during which he stepped into the news media spotlight to describe the church's response. He also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for church projects and will ordain 12 new priests this month — a bounty compared with most dioceses.
"He has no enemies in this archdiocese," said the Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and a former member of Congress.
Posted by kshaw at May 17, 2006 06:29 AM