CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
[with video]
Francine Knowles
Some of the best advice Cardinal Francis George can give his successor, Archbishop Blase Cupich, is to listen up, George said in a Chicago Sun-Times interview Monday.
“Spend a lot of time listening to people,” said George, who will retire Nov. 18 as the leader of Chicago’s 2.2 million Catholics.
“. . . The more that people are able to explain the challenges of the faith that they’re living and what they expect of him, the better off he’ll be able to govern, and likewise the more they understand of him, his skills and what he’s going to try to do, the easier it will be for him to govern. . . . It’s a question of listening. I have 11 councils, which he’ll inherit. So . . . you spend a lot of time listening . . . you don’t always agree, but you listen.” …
Cupich will “still have the sexual abuse crisis to attend to, but he knows about that. He’s been in charge of the bishops committee for that,” George said, referring to Cupich’s role in having chaired the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.
In retirement, George hopes to continue playing a pastoral role with victims of sexual abuse, but he has no plans to play a public role at the diocese in any capacity unless asked.
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