Bloodless Coup

Color me unhappy, and I've never even lived in Pittsburgh. It's not unexpected that Wuerl would get a promotion like this, but his promotion would seem likely to shift the Church even farther to the right. McCarrick was one of the "moderates" among the cardinals.

The consolidation of the Burgh's ethnic churches did cause some discomfort at first, especially among my grandparents' age group, but even they are now happy with the results. It simply no longer made sense to segregate Catholics by ethnicity.

i feel really pathetic that i have virtually no idea what you people are talking about -- and i live here.

Well, I'm glad to hear that people are feeling better about the consolidation. At the time I left the 'burgh, people were still extremely unhappy about giving up their native language masses. One of the secretaries in our office was involved in protests and everything, so perhaps I had a distorted close-up view. I would love for Stalin to stop by, as he is a Catholic Yinzer born and bred, with lots of insight.

I remember much gnashing of teeth in my parish growing up (which happened to be in a predominantly African-American community). But at same time, the consolidation with other churches was absolutely necessary, as the really small parishes could not sustain themselves, even with help from the diocese. When it was all said and done, I think it ended up strengthening the Church in Homewood/East Liberty, because it brought together a group of folks who had a strong vision to revitalize their communities.

I've posted a roundup of the coverage, if anyone is interested:

http://www.americanpapist.com/2006/05/wuerl-winds-up-in-washington-roundup.html

Cool.

More info here.

Yes, I thought it was interesting that the coverage has been so varied. The Raleigh-News Observer story talked about Wuerl being a noted moderate.

Well I guess he's more moderate than Chaput (Denver) and other people who might have gotten the nod. And sure he's more moderate than, say, most of the cardinals from Colombia. But my read is that he's not as moderate as some of the senior officials who are a bit older than him. But yeah, he's not a fire-breather and the pope could have gone farther to the Right.

Here are my thoughts on Bishop Wuerl.

I would say he is in the mainstream of traditional Catholic social teaching. Bad news if the issues you are concerned about are homosexuals in the Church and abortion. Good news if you want to promote health care spending, end the death penalty and oppose the war in Iraq. He has weighed in only occasionally on political issues (except for abortion, which is the clergy’s favorite hobby horse). He did write a rather awkward defense of intelligent design a few months back, but this isn’t a consistent theme of his. Most the letters I read are pastoral and spiritual rather than political, so I don’t think this was primarily a “political” appointment.

Wuerl’s star has been rising for a while now, and I think his appointment is due primarily to his considerable administrative skills. My understanding is that he is a rather authoritarian, take charge kind of Bishop (as opposed to a more collegial type), hence the “hatchet man” reputation. But he has been successful in guiding the Pittsburgh diocese through its painful reorganization. I think most Pittsburgh Catholics are generally satisfied with the results, if saddened by loss of some of the ethnic churches.

While non-Catholics are primarily interested in the Church’s political stances, it is important to remember that this is not the sum total of issues at stake. In fact, given the institutional crisis within the Church, these probably are not the most important issues from the hierarchy’s perspective. Many of the most pressing problems facing the Church now are directly related to the declining number of priests in the United States. At some point there is going to be a push to admit married men to the priesthood. I think this is going to be the next “big” issue in the Church, and here I am not sure where the new Archbishop stands.

In Pittsburgh, Wuerl has attempted to address the priest shortage in a number of ways, including beginning a program to restart a permanent Deaconate. (Deacons are ordained ministers, who can perform many of the functions of priests.) Some argue that a permanent Deaconate is a first step to admitting married men, while others contend this is a “more acceptable” alternative, so it is hard to deduce from this move what Wuerl’s view is. But it is clear that he is someone willing to take concrete steps to address pressing problems within the Church. Note: he was also out in front on developing the Bishop’s no tolerance response to the “sex abuse” scandal- a position that the Vatican forced the U.S. Bishop’s to modify. The Pittsburgh Church avoided the large scale cover-ups that have lead to so many crippling law suites elsewhere. He is certainly someone who is not afraid of dealing with difficult issues and imposing his solutions- for good or ill.

My guess is that he will be a very active Archbishop. Unlike the Pope, I don’t think this is a caretaker appointment. Whether this appointment really pushes the U.S. Church to the “right” may depend on which issues both he and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops choose to stress in the coming years.

As for a promotion to Cardinal, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. The DC appointment is a prominent one, and it may take some time but I don’t see any reason it won’t eventually happen.

Well you'd think he'd get a red hat - archbishops in Washington tend to. I mean there are lots of complaints that there are already too many American cardinals, but Archbishop O'Malley was just elevated nonetheless (which I'm quite happy about actually - from what I've read so far he's doing a good job in extremely troubled Boston).

Interesting what you say about his skills and activism Stalin. He's got a long time in office ahead of him, so it's good he's not going to be just a caretaker. And your comments and things I've heard from others are making me less worried about this appointment. Though - well, I can't imagine any world in which the Church moves its stances on gays and abortion. My policy interests reagrding the Church are more on things like health care, scientific research and the like (though I'd like to see a bit of consistency re: the death penalty and war too). So it's good hear what you've said - even if it's not entirely clear how he'll fit into those debates, as those are in some ways new and hard to predict.