George led flock through tough times

By Manya Brachear
Chicago Tribune
September 20, 2014

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-cardinal-george-tenure-20140920-story.html#page=1

The appointment of Cardinal Francis George's successor represents an unprecedented transition in the city's Roman Catholic Church, where no other leader has lived long enough to meet the man taking his place.

George's more than 17 years at the helm of the nation's third-largest archdiocese ended Saturday with the Vatican's announcement of Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., as archbishop of Chicago.

During George's tenure, he shepherded the church through a recession, political battles over gay marriage and immigration, and a clergy sex abuse scandal.

George also emerged as the point man between the U.S. and Vatican on matters including the liturgy of the Mass, a zero-tolerance policy for clergy sexual abuse and the selection of two popes. In fact, throughout his tenure, he fended off occasional rumors that he would be called away from Chicago to serve in Rome. ...

After his years in Rome, George moved back to the U.S. in 1987 to become the coordinator of the Circle of Fellows at the Cambridge Center for the Study of Faith and Culture in Massachusetts. The Catholic think tank was established by Cardinal Bernard Law, then archbishop of Boston, to study the relationship between the Catholic faith and American culture. Law would later become one of the principal promoters of George's candidacy for archbishop of Chicago.