Controversial Archbishop Abandons a Move to New Jersey, by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, May 26, 2009

Controversial Archbishop Abandons a Move to New Jersey

By Laurie Goodstein
New York Times
May 26, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/27weakland.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, the former head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese who has stirred up new controversy with his soon-to-be-released memoir about his decades in church leadership, his homosexual orientation and the scandal that forced his retirement, said on Tuesday that he had decided not to retire to St. Mary's Abbey in Morristown, N.J.

Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland in retirement in Wisconsin.
Photo by Nicole Bengiveno

Archbishop Weakland had been the worldwide leader of the Benedictine Order and then archbishop of Milwaukee for 25 years until 2002, when he resigned amid revelations that he had used church money to pay a $450,000 settlement to a man with whom he had had a relationship years earlier.

The archbishop, who is 82 and now living in a retirement community in Milwaukee, had been invited by the monks in Morristown to live out his days in their abbey. But, he said in an interview Tuesday, "they were getting very worried about the situation because of what they thought would be negative publicity. So I withdrew my desire to go there."

The Benedictine monks at St. Mary's Abbey administer the adjacent Delbarton School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school for boys, where last year's tuition was nearly $25,000. Archbishop Weakland said he had been told that the school was in the middle of a fund-raising campaign and that there was concern from lay people on its board about his retiring at the abbey.

The Rev. Giles Hayes, the abbot, said on Tuesday no one at the asked or pressured Archbishop Weakland not to come.

"He's a real gentleman," Abbot Hayes said, "and he wouldn't have wanted to hurt us."

A trustee, Thomas J. Walsh, said he had heard of no pressure from board members or parents to withdraw the invitation.

The archbishop said he planned to stay in his retirement community but move from a house into an apartment building where he would have "a bit more protection" from the weather and the television cameras."