Indianapolis Archbishop Introduces Auxiliary Bishop-Designate, by Robert King, Indianapolis Star, January 14, 2011

Indianapolis Archbishop Introduces Auxiliary Bishop-Designate

By Robert King
Indianapolis Star
January 14, 2011

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110114/LOCAL/101140328/1001/Indianapolis-archbishop-introduces-auxiliary-bishop-designate?odyssey=nav|head

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, 72, has suffered from health problems in recent years, including Hodgkin's disease.

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein and the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, pastor of St. Mary Margaret Parish in Westwood, Mass., attend a news conference this morning at St. John's The Evangelist Church in Downtown Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, left, introduces Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, right, during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, right, fields questions as Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, left, listens in during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, left, fields questions along with Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, right, during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, left, and Bishop-designate Father Christopher J. Coyne of Boston, right, during the press conference held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on Friday, January 14, 2011.

The new second-in-command in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis can quickly crack a joke.

"I make a pretty mean martini," the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, pastor of St. Mary Margaret Parish in Westwood, Mass., said today as he was introduced in his role assisting the Indianapolis archbishop.

But Coyne also spoke seriously as he met about 30 priests and media representatives at a church next to the Indiana Convention Center.

Coyne's new designation announced today by Pope Benedict XVI hadn't escaped the audience outside the Downtown church, including those who knew he had been the primary spokesman for the Boston archdiocese during the peak of a sexual abuse scandal involving priests.

(More about Coyne is available on his blog.)

"I was never asked to defend the indefensible and I never did," he said.

It was never suggested that Coyne himself was an abuser. But he learned the church must never spin information about the abuse of children.

He said he also expected the taint of the scandal would have prevented him from ever being appointed a bishop.

Within a couple of hours of the Vatican's announcement of Coyne's designation, the executive director of Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests sent out an e-mail. David Clohessy's statement said, "It's irresponsible and callous for the Pope to promote one of disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law's top aides to be a bishop. It's thumbing your nose at the hundreds of men, women, and children who were sexually assaulted by Catholics clergy in Boston and Indianapolis."

The statement concluded, "As long as the Vatican keeps rewarding tainted clerics with close ties to horrific scandals, the church will keep being tainted with more horrific scandals."

On March 2, Coyne will be ordained as Indianapolis' auxiliary bishop. Coyne's main mission will simply be to help Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein carry out his duties. In specific, he will carry the load of the sacramental duties — like priest ordinations and confirmations — the archbishop typically performs in the large archdiocese that covers 14,000 square miles in 39 counties. Coyne also assumes the role of vicar general, which essentially is the No. 2 administrative post.