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	Controversial Archbishop Not Coming to St. Mary's Left Milwaukee after Admitting He Is Gay; Accused of Date-Rape By Melissa Shube Daily Record May 29, 2009 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090529/COMMUNITIES32/905290330/1005/NEWS01 Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, the former head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese who retired in scandal, has announced that he has dropped plans to move to St. Mary's Abbey at Delbarton in Morris Plains. Weakland, who is 82 years old, has recently ignited controversy by announcing that he is gay and with his upcoming memoir, which describes his career, criticizes church politics, including the church's stance on homosexuality and response to sexual assault, and gives his perspective on the scandal that led to his early retirement. In 2002, Weakland was forced to resign as archbishop after a man accused him of date-rape and revealed that Weakland had used church money, years before, to pay him a settlement of $450,000. Weakland has also been accused of transferring priests with histories of sexual misconduct back into churches without alerting parishioners and of failing to report alleged abuses to law enforcement authorities. "We knew that he had been in trouble in the early 1980s, but we didn't know the details," said St. Mary's Abbot Giles Hayes. He said the decision was made to invite Weakland to live at St. Mary's Abbey in February, and that he did not know at the time that Weakland was writing a book or that he was gay. "He's exceedingly respected among Benedictines which is why we invited him to be here," Hayes said. Weakland withdrew his acceptance on May 18, shortly after he started to receive press attention for his book, "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church," which will be released in June. Before Weakland announced that he would not join the abbey, community responses to his retirement at St. Mary's were mixed, Hayes said. "Some people said that we were heroic in offering hospitality. I think some others felt that this might be an embarrassment," he said. Weakland could not be reached for comment, but he told The New York Times that he learned of concerns held by the abbey and board members at Delbarton, the college preparatory school for boys run by St. Mary's monks, and chose to withdraw "his desire to go there." Hayes said it was Weakland's decision not to come to the abbey. "He stepped up, recognizing that whatever came out in that interview or that book might negatively effect us, and he chose to say that he was not coming, which speaks volumes about his compassion and his understanding," Hayes said. "It's a sad time." Melissa Shube can be reached at (973) 428-6628 or mshube@gannett.com
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