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	McCarrick Retiring As Head of Washington Archdiocese By Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post May 16, 2006 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/16/AR2006051600288.html Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick as Archbishop of the Washington Archdiocese, and appointed Pittsburgh Bishop Donald W. Wuerl as his successor, the Vatican announced this morning. Wuerl, a close friend of McCarrick's who has led the Pittsburgh diocese for 18 years, will be installed June 22, archdiocesan spokeswoman Susan Gibbs said. The two men will appear together at a news conference at 10 a.m. McCarrick's five-year stewardship of the Washington Archdiocese has been marked by prolific fundraising and outspoken but folksy leadership on topics ranging from clergy sexual abuse to communion for those who believe in abortion rights to the selection of Pope Benedict XVI last year. McCarrick said in a recent interview that the archdiocese would install 12 new priests this month, the most in any year since 1973, had completed a $185 million capital campaign and -- unlike many other U.S. dioceses -- is operating in the black. The archdiocese includes 560,000 Catholics and 115 parochial schools in the District and Maryland. The diocese of Pittsburgh is larger, with 800,000 Catholics in 215 parishes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. But the Washington post is one of the most visible in the United States. The leader of this archdiocese traditionally is elevated to the rank of cardinal during his tenure. McCarrick became eligible for retirement last July, when he turned 75 years old and submitted a resignation letter to the Vatican, as required by church law. While Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, often allowed priests to serve long past their 75th birthdays, Benedict is known as a stickler for rules who hews more closely to the retirement age. McCarrick, who previously served as archbishop of Newark for 14 years, said recently that he felt at peace with his service and was ready to step down. He will remain in the Washington area, Gibbs said, and continue to serve in the College of Cardinals and on the board of Catholic Relief Services. Until Wuerl is installed next month, McCarrick will be the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, Gibbs said. After that, his title will be archbishop emeritus. Wuerl, 65, is known as the "education bishop," Gibbs said. He shares McCarrick's expansive view that politicians should be able to received communion regardless of whether they embrace abortion rights, but is also considered a conservative theologian. He has written his own catechism, which has been widely translated, Gibbs said. Wuerl speaks some Spanish, but unlike McCarrick, is not fluent. About 30 percent of Catholics in the Washington archdiocese are of Latino decent. He was born in Pittsburgh and has been very active in the community there, serving on the boards of the Urban League and the United Way, Gibbs said. He earned one graduate degree at Catholic University in Washington, and two others at church-affiliated universities in Rome. Wuerl is also somewhat of a media personality, hosting a weekly television show on faith in contemporary life that is called "The Teaching of Christ" and airs on the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh and a Christian cable station, and is syndicated elsewhere in the country. Staff writer Fred Barbash contributed to this report.
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