Bishop Wuerl Appointed Archbishop Of Washington D. C.

KDKA TV Pittsburgh ^ | 05/16/2006 | NA

[prisoner6]

Bishop Wuerl Appointed Archbishop Of Washington

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Donald W. Wuerl to succeed Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick as archbishop of Washington D.C.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the announcement Tuesday morning.

Pope Benedict accepted the retirement of Cardinal McCarrick who had served in Washington since his appointment on Nov. 21, 2000.

Archbishop-designate Wuerl will continue to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh until his installation as archbishop of Washington on June 22.

"The decision of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to transfer me to the Archdiocese of Washington," Archbishop-designate Wuerl said, "is one I embrace in the context of faith in Gods providential care. Although I am greatly aware of my own limitations, I find strength in the Pope’s trust in me and also in the prayerful support I have always found from the Catholic faithful I have attempted to serve here in the Diocese of Pittsburgh."

Cardinal McCarrick described Archbishop-designate Wuerl as a "wonderful friend to me over so many years and I have watched with delight and deep respect — and sometimes with more than a little envy — the great things that the Church of Pittsburgh has accomplished under his leadership. I truly cannot think of a better choice for Washington than Bishop Wuerl."

Archbishop-designate Wuerl has been bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh for 18 years and will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his ordination as a priest later this year.

[prisoner6]

Not sure how many FReepers will be interested in this. It's being played as a pretty big deal here in Da 'Burgh.

prisoner6

[Tribune7]

Pittsburgh ping

[Miss Marple]

I am interested, but I know nothing about Bishop Wuerl. Can you tell me a bit about him?

[Pyro7480]

A very important Catholic ping!

[prisoner6]

Hi MM,

here's a quick bio...

Most Reverend
DONALD W. WUERL
BISHOP OF PITTSBURGH Bishop Donald W. Wuerl was installed as the 11th bishop of Pittsburgh on February 12, 1988, where he is spiritual leader of some 800,000 Catholics in 215 parishes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.

In addition to his responsibilities as shepherd of the Catholic Church in the six counties that comprise the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Wuerl is involved in a wide range of community, ecumenical and interfaith activities, joining with civic and business leaders in educational and community-service initiatives. These include the Christian Leaders Fellowship and its many ecumenical enterprises, the Extra Mile Education Foundation which is responsible for a number of inner-city parochial schools, the Urban League of Pittsburgh and the United Way of Allegheny County.

To many Bishop Wuerl is known from the television program The Teaching of Christ broadcast on CBS, the Christian Associates cable channel, and through its national syndication.  His best-selling adult catechism of the same name, now in its 28th year of publication, has been translated into more than 10 languages and is used throughout the world. His most recent publication, The Catholic Way, was published by Doubleday in September 2001. 

Bishop Wuerl serves on numerous national and international bodies, is chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops editorial oversight board for the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults, a member of the USCCB Committee on Catechesis and past chair of the conference's committee on Education, chairman of the board of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and vice president of the executive board of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center with extensive involvement in the Center's Intercultural Forum. He has a unique relationship to Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, as Distinguished Service Professor.

During the course of his 16 years as Bishop of Pittsburgh, he has been honored by numerous organizations, including the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the American Red Cross and B’nai Zion. He also received the prestigious Elizabeth Ann Seton award from the National Catholic Education Association for his ongoing work as a teacher and educator.

The bishop was born in Pittsburgh on November 12, 1940, and received graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, the Gregorian University in Rome and his doctorate in theology from the University of St. Thomas in Rome in 1974. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1966, and ordained a bishop on January 6, 1986, in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

prisoner6

[Pyro7480]

He's 65, and will be turning 66 later this year. He'll be in Washington for ten years at least.

[Notwithstanding]

Not sure if he is what we need, but B16 should be given a chance.

Wuerl: Catholic legislators should make own decision on communion
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04147/322065.stm

[livius]

From the little I know, he's more conservative than McCarrick (who was a disappointment). The statements in that article were made a year ago, and I believe that since then the Vatican has made some more specific statements on the issue of Catholic politicians who "disagree" with the Church but wish to publicly present themselves as Catholics in good standing. There has certainly been a lot more enforcement of prohibitions on pro-abortion speakers from various diocesan or college events, etc.

Maybe - one hopes - Wuerl will conform to the stricter Vatican position as time goes by.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

This is a big deal. I'm not Catholic, but Wuerl has been a significant presence around here for years--I'm sure many in Pittsburgh will be sorry to lose him.

[Fury]

I believe this is the bishop who helped clean up a mess in the Seattle? area a few years ago.

[Convert from ECUSA]

I hope he's a Catholic and not a politico-pandering, muzzie-pandering liberal like McCarrack!

[Fury]

Yep, just checked and in mid the 1980's, the Vatican sent Bishop Wuerl to Seattle to address some issues with Archbishop Hunthausen. From an article:

"Two years later, papal officials chastised Hunthausen for lack of vigilance in upholding church teachings on contraception, homosexuality, divorce and other issues."

"The Vatican stripped Hunthausen of authority in five key areas and sent Auxiliary Bishop Donald Wuerl to Seattle to oversee liturgy, marriage annulments, theology courses for priests and other areas of contention."


For more see:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/century/cent24.shtml

[MilesVeritatis]

Yup. Wuerl was sent to Seattle in the 1980's to make straight the ways of the liberal leadership there.

[Ramcat]

Bishop Wuerl is a very talented church leader and a good man.

Very savvy with the media, a good teacher, by the book. We'll miss him.

I wish him good luck and hope that he doesn't take his Communications Director, Fr. Ron with him.

. That would be too much of a loss for the area.

[MilesVeritatis]

I still have a scar on my hand from burning it while holding incence for him! I like him and will pray for him.

[livius]

Very savvy with the media,

That's good news. One of McCarrick's problems, I think, was that he wasn't particularly good with the media. Furthermore, even though he was bishop of what should be one of America's most important sees, he kept a low profile. It seemed to me that he wasn't very good at handling either the politicos or the journalists.

[Incorrigible]

Bump

Cardinal McCarrick, long time Archbishop of Newark, NJ, to retire.

[markomalley]

As a ADW member, I am thrilled to see his Eminence be able to take on his "well deserved" retirement. Hopeful about his replacement, as well.

From Catholic Hierarchy dot org:

Date	Age	Event	Title
1940		Born	Pittsburgh
	26.1	Ordained Priest	Priest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
30 Nov 1985	45.0	Appointed	Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle, Washington, USA
30 Nov 1985	45.0	Appointed	Titular Bishop of Rossmarkaeum
6 Jan 1986	45.2	Ordained Bishop	Titular Bishop of Rossmarkaeum
26 May 1987	46.5	Resigned	Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle, Washington, USA
11 Feb 1988	47.2	Appointed	Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
25 Mar 1988	47.4	Installed	Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• Principal Consecrator:
  • Pope Karol Józef Wojtyla†
• Principal Co-Consecrators:
  • Agostino Cardinal Casaroli †
  • Bernardin Cardinal Gantin

So it appears that he has a good pedigree.

As I said, hopeful...

[chatham]

I am a Catholic for many decades and I take exception when articles like this refer to the Pope as "Holy Father".

Mainly because Bene XVI knew of all of the Abuses of Children during his job in charge of the congregation of the doctrine of the Faith and he did nothing.

And now they put in Skylstadt another very questionable "leader".

McCarrick was a Phoney from the getgo.

[Nihil Obstat]

Seems okay - nice article he wrote here:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0167.html

"What it Means to be Catholic"

Bishop Donald W. Wuerl

What makes a person Catholic? Is it because someone is baptized in a Catholic Church? Is it enough occasionally to attend Mass? Can it be simply because a person identifies himself or herself as Catholic? Or should we look at how the Church herself identifies her members, invites them into her sacramental life and calls them to accept and to proclaim in word and deed the living gospel of Jesus Christ? ....