Archbishop Gets a Helping Hand, by Robert King, Indianapolis Star, January 15, 2011

Archbishop Gets a Helping Hand

By Robert King
Indianapolis Star
January 15, 2011

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110115/LOCAL/101150332/Archbishop-gets-a-helping-hand?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, left, introduces Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, right, during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, right, fields questions as Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, left, listens in during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, left, fields questions along with Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, right, during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, left, and Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, right, during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

The Rev. Christopher Coyne stood at the altar of his new home church -- the regal surroundings of St. John the Evangelist Church in Downtown Indianapolis -- cracking jokes about his mother and the pope, about the New England Patriots' football coach and his life before the priesthood when he was a bartender.

Introduced as the new auxiliary bishop of Indianapolis, Coyne had an audience of about 40 priests, Catholic Church leaders and local college students eating out of his hand, laughing at his one-liners. He even had 72-year-old Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein -- whose health woes necessitated Coyne's arrival -- seemingly at a loss for words to keep up with the youthful, free spirit at his side.

It was a far cry from the tense news conferences and unfriendly audiences that Coyne often faced during the height of the priest sex abuse scandal in Boston. For three years, starting in 2002, Coyne was the voice of the scandal-ridden Boston archdiocese. He was called upon frequently to speak on behalf of Boston's vehemently unpopular Cardinal Bernard Law, who eventually resigned in disgrace.

It was what one friend called a most "thankless task" and a church official here described as the "most difficult job in America." The residue from it followed him to Indianapolis on Friday, when groups that track the priest sex abuse scandal and represent victims decried Coyne's appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as "irresponsible and callous."

Coyne said he expected his role as a Boston archdiocese spokesman would forever keep him from getting such an appointment.

"The abuse of children by priests was so evil," Coyne said Friday, "that anyone who had to deal with it was going to be tainted by it."

Yet the 52-year-old parish priest -- a lifelong Patriots fan whose Boston accent is so thick it should come with a side of clam chowder -- is now the No. 2 man in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, a city he'd never laid eyes on until Thursday.

"I was stunned," he said of the appointment, which he learned of a few days before Christmas. "I didn't expect it at all."

He will be formally ordained as a bishop March 2.

The appointment of an auxiliary bishop, whose main mission is simply to help the archbishop, is a rarity that hasn't happened in Indianapolis since the Rev. Joseph (later Cardinal) Ritter received such a nod in 1933. Almost as rare, church insiders say, is that the Vatican went so far afield to find the auxiliary bishop. Most come from within the diocese they serve.

The Vatican's announcement Thursday was something of a fast-track move.

Buechlein, weakened by a bout with Hodgkin's lymphoma and other health issues, made what one of his assistants described as an urgent request for help from the Vatican. Specifically, Buechlein asked for the appointment of an heir in waiting who could assist him until his retirement -- in church lingo, a coadjutor.

Instead, the Vatican responded with a less permanent move -- the appointment of Coyne as an auxiliary bishop, a position that comes with no guarantees of succeeding Buechlein when the time comes. In fact, Buechlein said: "They told me he was not expected to succeed me."

Bishops must submit a letter of resignation to the pope upon reaching age 75.

Still, Buechlein greeted Coyne eagerly, calling the appointment "a late Christmas present from the pope."

Though his cancer is in remission, Buechlein said he tires easily, forcing him to reduce his public appearances and hours in the office. With an archdiocese that covers 39 counties in Central and Southern Indiana -- an area of 14,000 square miles -- Buechlein said it is simply more ground than he can cover these days.

Coyne will be able to take the archbishop's place when it comes to priest ordinations or the confirmations of youths into the church. Also receiving the appointment of vicar general -- a position held for 17 years by Monsignor Joseph Schaedel -- Coyne will oversee much of the day-to-day business operations of the church.

Schaedel, 62, will be taking a three-month sabbatical in Rome before returning to Indianapolis to oversee the missions office, among other duties.

The contrasts between Buechlein and Coyne were quite striking Friday.

Buechlein, a Benedictine monk prone to writing deeply theological columns for his church newspaper, read from prepared remarks that he held with a shaky hand. Coyne, standing tall at 6-foot-4, spoke mostly from the hip, pausing from time to time to interject one-liners.

Coyne said he wanted to wear to the news conference a hooded sweatshirt -- like those made famous by Patriots coach and Colts nemesis Bill Belichick -- but "the boss" said no. After receiving initial word of his appointment, Coyne said he was given permission to tell only his parents about his pending move halfway across the country. "My mother is not happy," he said. "She used to like the pope."

When asked about his work prior to the priesthood, Coyne said he had been a bartender. "I make a pretty good martini." At which point Buechlein, playing the straight man, inserted himself at the podium and said, "Any other questions?"

The priests in the audience, such as Rev. Noah Casey, loved it.

Casey, the pastor at St. Luke Catholic Church, said he likes what he's seen of Coyne's work as a pastor and his training.

And, he added, "His youth and his enthusiasm are evident."

Not laughing about the appointment were representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who issued a statement saying: "As long as the Vatican keeps rewarding tainted clerics with close ties to horrific scandals, the church will keep being tainted with more horrific scandals."

As spokesman for the Boston archdiocese, Coyne appeared on ABC's "This Week" and on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" to represent the church during the scandal.

Terence McKiernan, a Boston-area Catholic and president of bishopaccountability.org, a website devoted to tracking pedophile priests and the bishops who protected them, said Coyne's appointment was evidence that Law, now stationed in the Vatican on a committee that nominates bishop candidates to the pope, had rewarded one of his own.

McKiernan said Coyne was among those reluctant to release church documents on the scandal. He also said Coyne was "not a very gracious person" in dealing with victims hurt by the church. "He really didn't show the necessary sensitivity," McKiernan said.

He also pointed to the difficulty Coyne had in leading a parish that had once been a hotbed of opposition to Law's handling of the scandal. The popular priest there, the Rev. Walter Cuenin, had been a vocal critic of Law. When Cuenin was forced to resign, it was Coyne, Law's spokesman, who replaced him.

Coyne lasted less than a year before requesting a transfer from the parish. At the time, he told reporters, "There was a small minority that made it difficult for me to continue there."

Cuenin, now a chaplain at Brandeis University, said Friday that Coyne's troubles at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish were a result of the tension surrounding the scandal. Cuenin said he found Coyne "a delightful man" who acted honorably under difficult circumstances.

"Since he was the spokesperson for Cardinal Law -- and there was so much attention over the sex abuse crisis -- Chris got tainted by that brush," he said. "I think you will find him very outgoing and engaging."

Taint by association is also how the Rev. Robert Sullivan, a friend of Coyne's and an associate vice president for academic mission at the University of Notre Dame, sees it.

"He's a decent guy," said Sullivan, who has known Coyne for 27 years, since Coyne was his student at a seminary in Massachusetts.

For his part, Coyne said Friday that he never abused a child, and he never tried to "defend the indefensible" when it came to speaking for the church.

"What I learned was the importance of a priest always striving to holiness, to lift up and to care for those vulnerable in society."

Coyne said it was during the scandal that he began offering a special blessing to children when parents brought the little ones up with them during Communion.

"I had never done that before. I can't even imagine why I didn't in the past," he said. "It was a reminder to me that the hands of a priest should always be a hand of blessing and never a hand of abuse."