Pittsburgh Native to Help Minnesota Diocese
By Peter Smith
On a day when Pope Francis tapped him to steady a scandal-shaken Minnesota archdiocese, adding to his duties in his New Jersey job, Archbishop Bernard Hebda returned to his native Pittsburgh for a long-scheduled talk before hundreds of local Catholic leaders. “I’m going to be praying for you, Bernie,” said one of the numerous priests, nuns and other old friends who greeted Archbishop Hebda before his keynote talk at a leadership-development conference for the Diocese of Pittsburgh at St. Paul Seminary in East Carnegie. Archbishop Hebda — who is credited with strong personal skills in addition to an Ivy League education and training in civil and church law — acknowledged he’ll need such prayers. Pope Francis on Monday appointed Archbishop Hebda as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis upon the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche. The resignations came soon after Minnesota prosecutors filed criminal charges accusing the archdiocese of failing to protect children from an abusive priest. Archbishop Hebda has since 2013 served as coadjutor archbishop in the Archdiocese of Newark, meaning he is second in command to Archbishop John J. Myers and his designated successor. Archbishop Hebda will maintain that assignment but spend much of his time in the immediate future in the Twin Cities, meeting with priests, church staff members and other lay people. “First would be to learn from them the situation, try to draw forth what would be the best way of moving forward,” he said in an interview before Monday evening’s conference. “I very much hope I will have that opportunity to be in the parishes and meet with people and hear their concerns. Initially I’ll have to spend a lot of time there to have that kind of contact.” Longtime friend Nicholas Cafardi said “there’s no better guy” for the Minnesota role. “Archbishop Hebda is a genuinely caring person,” said Mr. Cafardi, dean emeritus at the Duquesne University School of Law and a former chairman of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board for the protection of minors. “He’s the kind of bishop Francis said he wanted to appoint, people who were truly in touch with their people. But he’s given him a tough job. There are a lot of angry people in Minneapolis-St. Paul.” The Rev. Lou Vallone, a longtime Pittsburgh priest, added: “He’s a man of very great compassion, a man of humor. He’s very devout. He has all the brain power and all the heart power that’s necessary to help that diocese heal and move forward.” But an advocacy group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized the appointment in a statement, noting that Archbishop Hebda came to the defense of Archbishop Myers’ authorization of pricey additions onto his future retirement home. “We feel sorry for Newark Catholics and now Twin Cities Catholics who had assumed or now assume that Bishop Hebda would be different,” the statement said. The group said nothing in Archbishop Hebda’s record as bishop “indicates to us that he’ll be any different or better than the overwhelming majority of his clerical colleagues.” Archbishop Hebda said he hadn’t seen the statement and declined to respond. In a letter to Twin Cities Catholics, Archbishop Hebda sought to assure them that “the Lord works through his people to make his grace and healing presence felt, even in the most challenging of times.” He also noted that the job of an administrator is to be a caretaker, not to introduce major changes. Archbishop Hebda grew up in Pittsburgh, attending Resurrection Elementary School in Brookline and the former South Hills Catholic High School. After earning Harvard and Columbia degrees, he worked as an attorney for the Reed-Smith firm. But he soon entered seminary, earned a canon law degree in Rome, was ordained a priest in 1989, worked in pastoral and administrative roles, and served for years in a Vatican legal office before his appointment as bishop. The Minnesota resignations — processed under a church law allowing a bishop to step down if unable to fulfill his office for illness or other “grave cause” — come soon after Pope Francis established a tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect minors. Earlier this year, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Kansas City, Mo., Bishop Robert Finn after his conviction for failing to report a suspected abuser. Critics have long said the church, even after agreeing to ban abusers from ministry, has failed to hold accountable the bishops who enabled the predators. Separately Monday, the Vatican indicted Jozef Wesolowski, its own former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, on charges of sexually abusing minors in the Caribbean country and possessing child pornography. Peter Smith: petersmith@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1416 or on Twitter @PG_PeterSmith. Associated Press contributed. First Published June 15, 2015 2:57 PM
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