Tulsan Sent in Place of Cardinal, by Bill Sherman, Tulsan World, April 24, 2010

Tulsan Sent in Place of Cardinal

By Bill Sherman
Tulsan World
April 24, 2010

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100424_11_A1_Bishop778886

Bishop Edward J. Slattery, just back in Tulsa after being stranded at the Vatican by the volcanic ash cloud that shrouded Europe, flew to Washington, D.C., on Friday to celebrate a special Mass in place of a retired Vatican cardinal implicated in a clergy sexual abuse cover-up.

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos bowed out of the Mass, which is being held in honor of the pope's fifth anniversary, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic Church in the nation.

Castrillon Hoyos has been criticized for writing a letter praising a French bishop for shielding a priest who was later convicted of raping minors and received an 18-year jail sentence.

David Clohessy, executive director of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Friday his organization asked the pope and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Washington, D.C., archdiocese to prevent Castrillon Hoyos from celebrating the Mass.

"Over the years, he has made a number of dreadful and hurtful comments," Clohessy said.

Bishop Edward J. Slattery walks toward the altar at the beginning of an Ash Wednesday service at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa in February.
Photo by JAMES GIBBARD

"We felt it was terribly hurtful to give him such a position of prominence and honor. We're glad the cardinal won't be leading the event."

Clohessy said it is unclear whether Castrillon Hoyos stepped down voluntarily.

"We see no indications, overt or subtle, that the Vatican or the archbishop intervened. We've not heard from either group," he said.

Slattery said when Wuerl called him Thursday about taking Castrillon Hoyos's place in the Mass, at first he said no.

"But when I realized they really needed a bishop who was able to celebrate the traditional Mass, I said yes," he said.

He was picked, he said, because, "I've done things here in the diocese that they admire," such as celebrating the traditional pre-Vatican II Mass in Latin at Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Tulsa.

In the traditional Mass, celebrated through most of church history, the priest faces the high altar. Since Vatican II, the priest faces the people.

Slattery said he went to Rome to be part of a celebration honoring L. Francis Rooney, who was U.S. ambassador to the Vatican from 2005 to 2008. Rooney, a Tulsan, is the majority owner of Manhattan Construction Co.

Slattery's return flight was canceled Sunday in Rome after he received his boarding pass at the airport. He went back to the Vatican and waited three days for a seat to open up on a new flight.