Posted on 06/02/2005 4:21:14 PM PDT by Frank Sheed
Friday, May 27, 2005 Possible Replacements for Cardinal McCarrick as Archbishop of Washington, DC
Like it or not, the venerable Cardinal McCarrick of Washington will be hitting 75 this July 7th. You know what that means! Our sources tell us his resignation will be accepted "on an expedited timetable." Coupled with his public desire to retire early, Washington should have a new leader within the year. This episcopal see is highly visible due to it being located in our nation's capital and has been rewarded, since its inception, with its archbishops being created cardinals -- O'Boyle, Baum, Hickey, and McCarrick. The next archbishop will almost certainly follow in this tradition.
Here is the first official list, once again, of those candidates most often named as possible successors to McCarrick by our Vatican sources: Edwin O'Brien (U.S. Military Archdiocese), William Lori (Bridgeport), Charles Chaput (Denver), Raymond Burke (St. Louis), and John Foley (Pontifical Council for Social Communications). We tend to think that its O'Brien's to lose. He was rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome for many years prior to being named auxilary bishop in New York and then Archbishop of the Military Ordinate of the U.S. Currently at 66, O'Brien is the ideal age, being neither too young nor too old. Bishop Lori has deep ties to Washington, DC being Cardinal Hickey's longtime close collaborator and vicar general before being called to Bridgeport, CT. His only being 54 may work against him though. Archbishops Chaput and Burke are seen as "Rambo Catholic" bishops -- that is, they are not afraid of teaching the Church's moral truths in a very public manner. Both are seen as emerging leaders of the American episcopacy, and choosing either one would signal Pope Benedict's approval of their pastoral zeal. Their appointments would shake things up in our nation's capital, perhaps exactly what His Holiness desires. Archbishop Foley is a native of Philadelphia, but has been in his Vatican curial seat since 1984 (most likely the current recordholder!). So his time is due to move on to a new pasture. If he isn't named to Washington, he could also have a good chance at Baltimore. So there you have it, my dearest vaticanisti lovers. Start placing your bets.
Lemme clarify that...I'm not the Vaticanisti guy.
The real problem for O'Brien is that he would have been the choice of Pope John Paul II if the USA had not preemptively invaded Iraq. Archbishop O'Brien's military Appointment and his being seen by some on the Vatican side as more "USA Catholic" than "Roman Catholic" (very unjust, I believe) goes against him now. In part geopolitical circumstances have worked against him -- and he made the mistake of appearing emeshed with the USCCB with regard to support for Skylstad (who should be sent out of town blindfolded, sitting backwards, an a mule).
Unless something changes suddenly "Archbishop Chaput goes to Washington" is definitely a coming attraction!
Time for a little digression:
A.)Bruskewicz(sp?) needs to get the red hat soon.
And
B.) Why isn't this on the religion forum?
Dear God, please give us a Catholic archbishop in Washington, DC (and Baltimore, too).
Amen.
In charity, I try not to comment on the individuals involved so I will not give my opinions as such. I posted this solely for discussion and to illustrate that B-16 may be accepting these letters of resignation right away. I did comment on Bishop O'Brien as there as so few Chaplains in the Episcopacy, to have a military man as a major Ordinary would be huge news. I do have biases as to whom I would like to see move to this large Archdiocese, however, if the resignation does get accepted.
I found it interesting to note that this evening, Friday, His Holiness is meeting with both Archbishop Levada and Archbishop Amato, Secretary of the CDF. Clearly, he is planning on making things crystal clear with them on how things will function.
As for why this was not placed on the Religion forum, Trad, it had to do with the URL. The instant I put the URL of the site in and tried to Review it, a message popped up and indicated this had to go onto Chat/Blogger. I would have preferred it to be on Religion.
Frank
p.s. I would be happy to see a military man in Washington. However, I'm a little concerned about what seems to be an exaggerated sense of collegiality in that letter to First Things magazine.
It surprised me that this whole issue was dicussed on the 'World Over Live' on EWTN last night. Raymond Arroyo asked Fr. Richard John Neuhaus if he had heard the rumor pertaining to Bishop Chaput? He confirmed that he had heard it in the "hallway conversations." When Fr. Neuhaus was asked for his comments, he said that the Cardinal might stay on for years if he wished to but that IF the resignation was accepted, that Bishop Chaput would be an excellent candidate. That is a paraphrase of what I heard and is faithful, I think.
Frank
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