Pottstown Mercury
July 20, 2011
http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/07/20/opinion/srv0000012607975.txt
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Area Catholic leaders see the naming of Archbishop Charles Chaput to head the Philadelphia archdiocese as a transition steeped in change and opportunity.
Chaput was named Tuesday as the replacement for Archbishop Justin Rigali, who is retiring to Tennessee in the wake of scathing grand-jury reports that accused church leadership of covering up sex-abuse complaints within the church for decades.
Chaput, a Native American currently serving in Denver, is regarded as a politically astute Catholic leader who strongly supports conservative ideals. He is staunchly opposed to expansion of abortion rights, stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage.
He comes to Philadelphia at a time when healing and openness are needed among clergy and church members who have witnessed one disturbing revelation after another of sexual abuse and coverups.
The grand jury report excoriated Rigali and his predecessor, Anthony Bevilacqua, finding they protected church interests over those of victims.
The scourge of sex-abuse has touched nearly every corner of the archdiocese, involving pastors and school principals throughout the archdiocese.
This is not Chaput's first difficult assignment. The Associated Press reported that Chaput was one of the bishops Pope Benedict XVI chose in 2009 to investigate the Legionaries of Christ, the disgraced religious order that in recent years confirmed that its late founder fathered three children and sexually abused young seminarians.
The pope also turned to Chaput in another sensitive case: an inquiry into Australian Bishop William Morris of the Toowoomba diocese, whom Benedict removed in May partly because the bishop indicated he would ordain women and marry men if church rules allowed the practice.
And he is not without critics. He came under fire in Colorado for fighting to block efforts to extend the time that child sex-abuse victims have to file suit against the church. Chaput said Tuesday that he did so only so that the church would be treated no differently under the law than anyone else.
Chaput has a reputation for working hard to reach out and spread faith to all corners of his area of responsibility, a trait that will serve him well among the 1.5 million Catholics in the archdiocese.
Chaput has his work cut out for him. The region's Catholics have endured a dozen years or more of betrayal in dealing with those who abused their faith.
This change presents an opportunity for the church to begin healing, a process that has been needed and awaited for a long time.
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