'Your Gain...Is Knoxville's Loss'
By Deborah Yetter
The Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY]
June 17, 2007
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070617/NEWS01/706170496/1008
He loves playing golf and basketball, and runs or works out regularly. Fiercely competitive, he "takes no prisoners" on the racquetball court, according to a friend.
The Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz, 60, showed similar energy as Roman Catholic bishop of Knoxville, driving hundreds of miles to visit parishes in his East Tennessee diocese, attending festivals, fundraisers and community events, even learning to hold services in Spanish.
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| A friend called the Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz a ‘moderate progressive.’ Photo by Kylene Lloyd |
Friends and colleagues expect Kurtz to bring that drive to his new job as Roman Catholic archbishop of Louisville — along with his humor, patience, intelligence and a deep faith.
"It's not sham piety," said longtime friend the Rev. Bill Seifert, pastor of St. Stephen Church in Allentown, Pa.., the diocese where Kurtz was born, raised and became a priest. "It's a real devotion to doing the works of the Lord."
Bishop of the Knoxville diocese of 50,000 Catholics since 1999, Kurtz was named archbishop of the 200,000-member Louisville diocese by Pope Benedict XVI last week. He replaces Thomas C. Kelly, who has retired after 25 years as archbishop.
Kurtz is to be installed Aug. 15 at a ceremony in Louisville and has been invited to Rome June 29 to be recognized by the Pope at a ceremony for new archbishops.
Kurtz inherits an archdiocese that has seen a decline in priests as they age and retire, reorganizations that have closed or merged some schools and parishes, and a sexual abuse scandal that still haunts the local Catholic church, four years after it settled claims by more than 200 victims for nearly $30 million.
Chief critics are survivors
Friends and colleagues expect Kurtz will meet all challenges and excel.
"Your gain in Louisville is Knoxville's loss," said Monsignor Robert Wargo, an Allentown priest who graduated with Kurtz from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia in 1972. "He's probably one of the best guys we've ever turned out."
Kurtz's chief critics are members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests who say he didn't do enough to repudiate the bishop he replaced in Knoxville, Anthony J. O'Connell.
O'Connell became bishop in Palm Beach, Fla., but resigned in 2002 amid allegations he abused students in the 1970s at a Missouri seminary where he taught.
Kurtz said he has tried to address the organization's concerns but acknowledged they haven't always agreed.
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| The Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz, right, is to be installed Aug. 15 as archbishop of the 200,000-member Louisville diocese. He replaces Thomas C. Kelly, left, who has retired after 25 years. |
Some advocates in Louisville argue the church needs to do more to help victims — including some they believe never came forward or filed lawsuits.
"There still has to be more resources put aside for victims," said Michael Turner, who in 2002 filed the first of what became more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests or others connected with the church in the Louisville archdiocese.
Kurtz said he understands those concerns and expects to address them as he learns more about Louisville and the needs of the diocese.
No dramatic change
The Rev. Nick Rice, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes church in Louisville, said he knows Kurtz from working with him on various church issues at the regional level.
Rice said local Catholics shouldn't expect a dramatic change as Kurtz takes over.
"I think if they want to label him, it would be a moderate progressive," Rice said.
Kurtz said he supports basic church teachings about the sanctity of life and works to oppose abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty.
He marches in the annual Right to Life Rally in Washington. He and Tennessee's other two bishops have met with Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen to underscore their opposition to the death penalty, he said.
Kurtz said he believes strongly in social services the church can provide to the poor and the immigrant population.
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JOSEPH E. KURTZ •Age: 60. •Personal: Born in Mahanoy City, Pa., to the late George and Stella (Zmijewski) Kurtz. •New post: Head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville. •Education: Bachelor's in philosophy; master's in divinity, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia; master's in social work, Marywood School of Social Work in Scranton, Pa. •Career: Ordained a priest in Diocese of Allentown, Pa., 1972; worked as an assistant pastor, teacher in high school and college, and as an assistant director of vocations. Directed several service agencies, including the Social Action Bureau, the Catholic Social Agency and Family Life Bureau, and Catholic Charities. Named monsignor in 1986 and served as pastor of churches in Catasauqua and Bethlehem, Pa. Named bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville on Oct. 26, 1999. Chairman, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Marriage and Family. WHAT'S NEXT •Thomas C. Kelly will remain as administrator of the archdiocese until Joseph E. Kurtz's formal installation. •On Aug. 15, Kurtz will be formally installed as archbishop in a ceremony at The Gardens. |
He also serves as chairman of the Committee on Marriage and Family for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes same-sex marriage and advocates marriage between a man and a woman.
"The bishops of the U.S. conference are strong in promoting the traditional view of one man and one woman in a faithful, committed relationship open to new life through children," he said.
A popular priest
Joseph Edward Kurtz was born in Mahanoy City , a coal-mining town in northeast Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of five children.
His father was a coal miner who eventually died of black lung, a debilitating respiratory disease caused by breathing coal dust.
Kurtz said he enjoyed a secure and happy childhood, attending Catholic elementary and high schools. He left his junior year to enter the seminary.
Some of his friends already had entered the seminary as sophomores. Kurtz caught up and skipped a year to graduate with them.
"He was a very good student," said Wargo, who has known Kurtz since grade school where they became friends and played on the basketball team. "He was always a good athlete."
Kurtz said prayer and looking out for a disabled brother, Georgie, who had Down syndrome, helped him decide to become a priest.
"My relationship with Georgie made me sympathetic to reaching out to people in need," Kurtz said. Later, after his parents' deaths, Kurtz would care for his brother until he died in 2002.
After he was ordained a priest in 1972, Kurtz served as a teacher, administrator and parish priest — also earning a master's degree in social work that he said proved valuable in his work as director of the Catholic Charities agency in Allentown.
The Most Rev. Ronald Gainer, bishop of the Lexington diocese who attended the seminary with Kurtz, said his former classmate was well-liked by fellow priests, inviting them over for Saturday cookouts. Gainer cited Kurtz's outgoing personality, sense of humor and genuine affection for others.
"He was probably one of the most popular priests in the diocese," he said.
In 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed Kurtz bishop of Knoxville.
Living a life of joy
The Knoxville diocese has grown rapidly since it was established in 1988 with about 32,000 Catholics in a 36-county region..
It also has increased the number of priests it ordains — even as other dioceses struggle with a decline in clergy. The Knoxville diocese began with 26 priests and now has 55 — some of the increase credited to Kurtz's efforts.
"Wherever he goes throughout the diocese, he's always encouraging young people to consider religious life," said the Rev. Peter Iorio, director of vocations.
Kurtz said he simply tries to inspire young people who might have a calling — a practice he expects to continue in the Louisville diocese. Rather than portraying the celibate life of a priest as one of deprivation, Kurtz said he tries to communicate the joy of service and ministry.
"The key to the invitation — our living a life of joy — is not something you can pretend," he said.
In Knoxville, Kurtz had to deal with revelations about past sexual abuse by his predecessor, who had been a highly popular bishop.
Some advocates were upset Kurtz allowed photos of O'Connell and other reminders to remain in some buildings — particularly in the chancery, the diocesan headquarters. That was "extraordinarily insensitive," said Ann Brentwood, southeastern coordinator for the survivors' network organization.
The group also argues Kurtz didn't do enough to help victims who said they were abused by clergy in the Knoxville region while it was part of the Nashville diocese.
Kurtz said he declined to remove the photo in the chancery because it is part of a history display of the Knoxville diocese. O'Connell was the founding bishop. "I did not think it was inappropriate to acknowledge that history," Kurtz said.
As for victims, Kurtz said he has created services that included hiring a victims' assistance coordinator and been available to meet with anyone reporting abuse. But he said church law is clear that details of such claims must be reported to and handled within the diocese in which they occurred, meaning Nashville.
Kurtz said he has worked to communicate very clearly the church's zero-tolerance policy on sexual abuse — and that it is a crime that must be reported to civil authorities.
"I think the vast majority of the faithful have been very supportive," he said.
Drives with moderation
Kurtz is known for spending hours on the road driving himself throughout the diocese to visit parishes. He uses the drive time to keep up with friends.
"He must have 10,000 minutes on his cell phone," Wargo said.
Kurtz said he has learned to slow down since the time in 1971, then a young seminarian, he had his license suspended in Pennsylvania for speeding.
"He had a lead foot," said his friend Seifert.
Those days are past, Kurtz said.
"I have tried to do all things with moderation," he said.
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228 or dyetter@courier-journal.com.
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