By Ann Rodgers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 14, 2010
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10318/1102957-455.stm
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| Archbishop Donald Wuerl prays as he celebrates Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., in October. |
When Cardinal-designate Donald Wuerl receives a red hat Saturday, he will also receive the opportunity to advise the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
Those who know the 70-year-old Mount Washington native and former bishop of Pittsburgh say he will bring insight and broad perspective to the greatest challenges the church faces. The archbishop of Washington, D.C., since 2006, he has long demonstrated priorities that include removing sexual predators from ministry and strengthening relationships with non-Catholics.
He will join 23 other men whom Pope Benedict XVI will elevate to cardinal. More than 350 well-wishers are traveling to Rome to celebrate. He will visit Pittsburgh for a Mass at 2 p.m. Dec. 12 in St. Paul Cathedral, Oakland.
Traditionally, the cardinals who run Vatican offices advise the pope directly, while cardinals stationed around the world advise those Vatican offices. They also have increased influence in their national bishops' conferences.
Those who have watched Cardinal-designate Wuerl's quiet diplomacy among the U.S. bishops believe his elevation may produce more nuanced, less volatile statements from Rome.
"Wuerl is the kind of guy who loves operating behind the scenes," said John Allen, the Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter. "A lot of bishops will tell you that Donald Wuerl has been the dead center of the conference. He is where the majority of the bishops would be and he holds things together."
Cardinals have rarely met as a body apart from papal elections. But Pope Benedict is about to revive a practice Pope John Paul II tried early in his pontificate. He will gather all cardinals and cardinals-designate Friday to reflect on five issues.
"He is taking very seriously the role of cardinals as direct advisers to him," Cardinal-designate Wuerl said.
Two major discussion items are religious freedom and liturgy. The others are the church's response to sexual abuse accusations, a 10-year review of a controversial document on the relationship of the Catholic Church to other traditions, and a new structure to allow groups of Anglicans to become Catholics but keep their own liturgy and practices.
Religious freedom covers matters from the recent massacre of Christians in Iraq to fears that European bans on Muslim veils undermine religious liberty for all. Cardinal-designate Wuerl has long raised alarms about efforts to force Catholic hospitals and health workers to provide abortions.
"I think we all need to examine the rightful place of religious pluralism," he said.
But he has been a non-combatant in the liturgy wars that have embattled the U.S. bishops for 20 years. Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie opposed the forthcoming new literal transition from Latin without help or hindrance from Cardinal-designate Wuerl.
"He's very selective in the causes he engages," Bishop Trautman said. "He is noted for his balance and diplomacy and calmness. He is always deliberate in his remarks. He doesn't alienate people, and has a gift to unite them."
He recalled one bold exception, in which many observers believe the future cardinal made enemies in Rome. In 1993, when the Vatican's highest court ordered him to reinstate a priest who he was certain had molested minors, the bishop fought back and won.
"He showed courage," Bishop Trautman said. "He was one of the first to spot the difficulties [with abusers] and rise and speak up, even though it meant making strong strides in Rome. I think that's a sign of a good leader."
In 2002, Bishop Wuerl helped to craft the U.S. bishops' zero tolerance policy on sexual abuse. "Our focus today needs to be on the continued healing of the victims," he said. "My hope is that the experience we've had might be helpful and useful to other conferences of bishops. I think we have learned that transparency is the best policy."
His duel with the Vatican court also reveals differences with the only American to be elevated with him, Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke. Cardinal-designate Burke is prefect of that court, and in 1995 was the canonist who defended the order to reinstate the priest.
Such a defense is required, so he may not have personally supported reinstatement, said Michael Sean Winters, a journalist for the National Catholic Reporter who read the Latin case files. But he argued for the canonical rights of priests, while Bishop Wuerl raised pastoral concerns about the harm done to others.
"It goes to a different way of viewing the life of the church," Mr. Winters said. Even when the court reversed itself, "There was nothing in the [verdicts] to say that this isn't about priests' rights, but about kids being harmed. But that was what was motivating Wuerl from start to finish." Cardinal-designate Burke is now the point man for those who believe that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should be banned from Communion. Cardinal-designate Wuerl was an architect of the U.S. bishops guidelines, which discourage such bans but call for efforts to change the politician's mind. He says priests can't make snap judgments at Mass about whether someone has repented, and that politicizing the sacraments is a counterproductive misuse of canon law.
In March 2009, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry went to Rome with a petition to remove Archbishop Wuerl for allowing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to receive Communion. He videotaped an interview with Archbishop Burke, who said canon law forbids Communion for anyone in "grave sin," including support for abortion. Archbishop Burke didn't question Mr. Terry's call for Archbishop Wuerl's ouster. Mr. Terry then played the tape at the National Press Club. Archbishop Burke issued an apology.
Cardinal-designate Wuerl says the conflict isn't personal. He said he called to congratulate Cardinal-designate Burke. They will have lunch in Rome.
"Disagreement doesn't mean that you cannot be friends," he said. "We've never had a personal problem. We don't see some questions of application the same way. But we both share the same faith, we both share the same goals."
He preaches civility. The cardinal-designate is appalled at the shouting heads on TV. He says many blogs "come out of the same mentality as road rage."
Rabbi Alvin Berkun, a Conservative Pittsburgh rabbi active at Vatican level of Catholic-Jewish dialogue, says the cardinal-designate has "an abundance of sechel."
"It's a Yiddish word meaning common sense, good judgment, wisdom, clarity of thought and the ability to articulate his perspective. He has brought that to probably every table where I have sat with him for the past 20 years," he said.
Rabbi Berkun is among some interfaith and ecumenical leaders who hope Cardinal Wuerl will advise the Vatican on those matters. They say he doesn't just preach ecumenism, he lives it.
When the Rev. Robert Duncan was elected Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh in 1995, he barely knew Bishop Wuerl. But his new colleague invited him for breakfast and gave him a present: a bishop's pectoral cross he had designed and had blessed by Pope John Paul II.
Now-Archbishop Duncan believes it showed the future Cardinal's desire for Christian unity.
"I think he would have done it for whomever was elected [Episcopal] bishop here" he said.
Thirteen years later, the archbishop left the Episcopal Church and become leader of the new, theologically conservative Anglican Church in North America. Cardinal-designate Wuerl was recently appointed by the Vatican to oversee groups of conservative Anglicans in the U.S. who want to become Catholic while keeping their own traditions, a plan created after long-standing requests from thousands of Anglicans in Australia. Archbishop Duncan isn't interested. But he has discussed the plan with Cardinal-designate Wuerl.
The cardinal-designate is ecumenically adept because he knows the exact boundaries of his own tradition, and can go right to the edge without going over, Archbishop Duncan said.
"He really understood both Catholicism and Anglicanism and he was able to be gracious to us in ways that someone who was less precise and less clear might have been uncertain about doing," he said.
The cardinal-designate co-founded the Christian Leaders Fellowship, which brings top local Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders to each other's homes for breakfast, Bible study, prayer and conversation. Many of Pittsburgh's Protestant leaders saw him as a friend to whom they could turn for advice.
"He looks for bridges between people. I think he breaks down barriers of prejudice," said Bishop Donald McCoid, formerly of the Pittsburgh synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and now that denomination's chief ecumenical officer.
The document on interfaith relations the cardinals will review caused an uproar 10 years ago when it was interpreted to mean only Catholics go to heaven. Bishop Wuerl promptly said otherwise, explaining how the different ways different churches used words such as "church" or "grace" led to misunderstanding.
He believes church leaders "have to remember that words have to be understood the way the person hearing it understands the words," he said.
His overriding concern is with how the faith is taught in a secular age.
"We can't underestimate the challenge that secularization brings to the world of faith. It's not that they set out to be opposed to each other. It's just that, in a fast-paced, technological world, you tend not to have a lot of time and we tend not to put a high priority on things that aren't immediately present to us," he said.
"But our relationship with God requires us to take time."
He looks to the youth. Those who have lost their own connection to the church often stop him in airports to ask questions or say how much the Catholic faith meant to a beloved grandparent.
"They haven't abandoned the faith, they just drifted away from the practice. They just need to be reminded that they have a church, they have a home," he said.
Recently he celebrated Mass for 300 George Washington University students.
They had grown from 20 who each pledged to invite friends to church.
"We have to find ways of tapping into that openness and searching," he said. "People need to be invited back, and it's not going to be the priest who will do the inviting."
Ann Rodgers can be reached at arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.
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