Apparently It's True (Levada to be head of CDF?)

Bettnet.com ^ | 5/10/05 | Domenico Bettinelli

[old and tired]

It appears, based on very reliable sources, that indeed Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco is going to be appointed the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This is not good news. Archbishop Levada is the prelate who compromised with the city of San Francisco over the city’s demands that Catholic Charities and other Church organizations provide “domestic partner” benefits to employees. His archdiocese is also a mess with dissenting priests, homosexual activists running all over the place, the University of San Francisco trampling the faith, and more.

I’m really very surprised by this. I would have thought that Pope Benedict would have seen this for what it was, especially considering his close association with Father Fessio, who had been in San Francisco for many years.

Maybe he sees something we don’t. I hope.

[Frank Sheed]

"Pop always told me one thing: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

--Michael Corleone, the Godfather II

The good Archbishop was an "errand boy" for the Holy Father once upon a time. I bet if this happens, the Holy Father keeps the real portfolio, the Archbishop remains an Archbishop (and does the copying and filing) and a new, orthodox Cardinal Archbishop ends up in San Francisco. I like the way this Holy Father works.

Frank

[pbear8]

Living near Levada's diocese is no fun. However, I do know that the priests in his diocese are sick of all of the trips he has taken to Rome over the years. They say that he has campaigned for a high curial position for years. I pray that he doesn't get one.

[nickcarraway]

In public events with his flock before the election, he pretty much repudiated what then-Cardinal Ratzinger had written.

Where does this "errand boy for the Pope" bit come from. I have never seen any evidence of this.

[Frank Sheed]

Levada was a student of Ratzinger's, I believe and worked in the CDF office before being appointed a Bishop and sent to the US. He was apparently harmless shuffling papers.

Frank

[sinkspur]

a new, orthodox Cardinal Archbishop ends up in San Francisco.

A Cardinal in San Francisco?

Houston or San Antonio will get a red hat before San Francisco does. I'd wager there are three times the Catholics in San Antonio that there are in San Fran.

[RFT1]

He had done precious little to clean up his own Archdiocese. Even Cdl. McCarrick has done better in terms of church docitrine in the DC archdiocese than Abp. Levada has done in his, not to mention priestly vocations. If Abp. Levada cant control his own archdiocese, he can he function as head of the CDF?

[pbear8]

From the National Catholic Distorter - April 16, 1999

http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/041699/041699a.htm

"Former students and colleagues are full of praise. “He is an extraordinarily refined, calm and open-minded person,” said Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco, who worked on Ratzinger’s staff in the early 1980s."

Apparently they do know each other reasonably well.

[nickcarraway]

The fact is Archbishop Levada was working at the CDF when Cardinal Ratzinger got there. Within a year he was reassigned. That hardly means they are more than acquaintances. Is there any other solid proof that they have a friendship beyond that?

[Frank Sheed]

No. I am only hoping against hope that the rumors are not true as this would be a disappointing signal unless there is much more behind the scenes of which we are invincibly ignorant.

Frank

[Arguss]

"I know this is still just a rumor, but it is very disconcerting to me. For any who don't know Dom Bettinelli works for Phil Lawler as an editor at Catholic World News."

I've been reading Dom for a few years, and while like his style, I can't remember off hand any of his rumors to materialize. And he does love his rumors.

[pbear8]

Is there any other solid proof that they have a friendship beyond that?

Noe that I know of, but I didn't know that they had worked together in Rome.

[murphE]

I don't know if this was posted yet, but I just found this article. This is the picture (from 1999) that was with the article. Is that a deaconess?

American Said To Be Tapped as Vatican's Doctrinal Enforcer

San Francisco's Archbishop Levada is the likely candidate to take over Pope Benedict XVI's old job

Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco is likely to be chosen to be the new Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful Vatican post held for 24 years by the man who last month became Pope Benedict XVI, several well-placed Vatican sources have told TIME.

"It's a done deal," a senior Vatican official told TIME on Tuesday, after days of rumors that the American was emerging as the frontrunner. "This was a decision directly from the Pope. Levada was already asked, and has accepted. If it ends up not happening, it means somebody got to [the Pope] and convinced him to change his mind."

If the Vatican confirms the appointment in the coming days, Levada, 68, would become the man responsible for overseeing all moral and theological matters for the Holy Father, who himself headed what as once called the Holy Office for 24 years up until his election last month as pontiff. If named, Levada would by all accounts become the most influential American ever in the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Another Vatican source said the former Cardinal Ratzinger and Levada had built what he called a "hidden friendship" over the years outside of the Roman power circles, dating back to the period the American spent as a mid-level official in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the early 1980s. "They would go to dinner together," the source said. "This is someone the Pope thinks he can work closely with."

Levada currently serves as one of four archbishop consulting members of the Congregation. If named to head the office, he would become a Cardinal the next time a new batch were promoted to the title. The Congregation oversees all issues related to theology and the maintenance of Church orthodoxy. In his nearly quarter-century in the post, Cardinal Ratzinger became a lightening rod for reformist critics of John Paul II's papacy.

TIME online

[pbear8]

I think I am going to be sick.

[murphE]

Don't think for one minute I'm happy about it. I found one interesting line in the article...

"This was a decision directly from the Pope. Levada was already asked, and has accepted. If it ends up not happening, it means somebody got to [the Pope] and convinced him to change his mind."

What an odd thing for the "source in the Vatican" to say, don't you think?

[leepenn]

It would be bad news if Abp. Levada were appointed to the CDF.

Under his leadership, the Archdiocese of San Francisco is working closely with ECUSA Bishop Swing and the United Religions Initiative (URI).

Here's a story I did on this in November 2003 for The Christian Challenge, a traditionalist Anglican magazine:

Catholic Support For Controversial Movement
Grows Despite Hierarchy's Opposition

By Lee Penn
The Christian Challenge (Washington, DC)
November 14, 2003

THE VATICAN stands firmly against it.

Nonetheless, Catholic support for it has spread worldwide, beyond the usual array of dissident Catholic theologians, priests, and religious orders.

"It" is the eight-year-old, controversial interfaith venture, the United Religions Initiative (URI), founded by liberal California Episcopal Bishop William Swing. Far from including only the major ancient religions, the URI has opened its doors to "spiritualities" of all sorts, including those of the pagan, occult and New Age genre. Some critics point to evidence that the URI will act to distill from these many belief systems a one-world religion. Though still relatively unknown, the URI has grown to 201 chapters and more than 15,000 adherents around the world, and has attracted some major benefactors.

At Rome in 1996, Bishop Swing received a firm rebuff from Cardinal Arinze, who was then the head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. According to Bishop Swing, the Cardinal "said that a United Religions would give the appearance of syncretism and it would water down our need to evangelize. It would force authentic religions to be on equal footing with spurious religions."

Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who worked under Cardinal Arinze (and is now his successor), pointedly ignored Bishop Swing's invitation to attend the 1997 URI summit conference.

Since then, the Vatican has restated its opposition to the URI. In a June 1999 letter to Homiletic & Pastoral Review, a magazine for Catholic priests, Fr. Chidi Denis Isizoh of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue said: "Religious syncretism is a theological error. That is why the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue does not approve of the United Religions Initiative and does not work with it."

As the San Francisco Chronicle reported in June 2000, "Swing found that the Vatican wanted nothing to do with his organization."

MANY CATHOLICS, however, are not following the Vatican lead. Open supporters of the URI in the episcopate have included Cardinal Paul Evaristo Arns (the retired Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil), Archbishop John Baptist Odama (from Uganda), Thomas Gumbleton (auxiliary Bishop of Detroit), and Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco (the retired Archbishop of that city).

William Levada, the Archbishop of San Francisco, has not officially stated support for the URI. Nevertheless, the Archdiocese of San Francisco is--in practical terms, if not formally--cooperating closely with the URI. Diocesan spokesman Maurice Healey agreed that "through its actions, the Archdiocese has viewed the URI positively." Fr. Gerard O'Rourke, director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, has been an enthusiastic supporter of the URI from its beginning; he served on the URI Board of Directors until 2002.

The Jesuit leaders of the University of San Francisco (USF) also support the URI. Fr. John Lo Schiavo, S.J. (Chancellor of USF) served through 2000 on the URI Board of Directors. In April 2001, Fr. Steven A. Privett S. J. (current president of USF) praised Bishop Swing's "realization that dogma divides and action unites" when he introduced Swing to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. The Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., (President of USF from 1991 through 2000) donated to the URI in 2000.

Sister Bridget Clare McKeever, director of the Office of Spirituality for the Catholic diocese of Salt Lake in Utah, publicly endorsed the URI in 2001.

The Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, donated to the URI in 2000--the only Roman Catholic diocese yet to go on the record as doing so.

URI activities have also been supported by Catholic Relief Services, the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Religious Orders Partnership (associated with Global Education Associates), Pax Christi USA, and many orders of nuns.

John Borelli, Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in November 2002, "Since the Archdiocese of San Francisco is involved in the URI, the Catholic Church is involved."

In March 2003, Borelli said, "My advice to Gerry O'Rourke from the start is that all kinds of interfaith activities are beneficial and he should be involved in the URI if he feels it is a worthwhile project." Borelli added that there has been "no formal communication from the Vatican to the USCCB about the URI." Thus, the USCCB bureaucracy is a de facto supporter of the URI.

Catholic support for the URI is worldwide. Five of the 37 URI Global Council members are Catholic, including Fr. James Channan, of Pakistan (a Consultor for the Vatican Commission on Religious Relations with Muslims and prior Vice-Provincial of the Dominican "Sons of Mary" order), and Fr. Dr. George Khoury (President of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Greek Catholic Church, in Israel).

Other prominent Catholics who have endorsed the URI include Fr. Thomas Michel S.J. (director of the Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue); Fr. Joseph Wainaina (who has been the National Pastoral Coordinator for the Kenya Episcopal Conference); and Fr. Albert Nambiaparambil, who served in the 1990s as Secretary of Interreligious Dialogue for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. Catholics in Belgium, Brazil, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and other countries have taken leadership roles in local and regional URI activity. Dissenting theologians supporting the URI include Paul Knitter (senior editor at Orbis Books and professor of theology at Xavier University), Leonard Swidler (professor of "Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue" at Temple University), and Hans Küng.
------
Sources available upon request. Permission to circulate the foregoing electronically, or reprint it, is granted, provided that there are no changes in the headings or text.

END

[leepenn]

Here's more about Abp. Levada .... a comment that I had posted on Amy Welborn's blog about a week ago when the rumor first surfaced:

Regarding Abp. Levada and his orthodoxy/orthopraxis:

In January 2002, I wrote a letter of complaint to +Levada about the support given by his ecumenical affairs officer to the United Religions Initiative (URI), a loony interfaith venture led by the Episcopal Bishop of San Francisco. As part of the letter, I included a copy of this Touchstone Magazine story:

http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=13-05-044-r

All I got from the Archbishop was a 2-sentence "thank you for sharing" letter, and an angry call a week later from the Archdiocesan ecumenical affairs officer ... who remained on the URI board till the next elections were held in mid-2002. Since early 2002, the Archdiocesan paper has given plenty of free publicity to the URI, and URI literature is passed out at Diocesan events.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is de facto, if not de jure, a supporter of the United Religions Initiative.

As for the Archbishop and the Scandal ...

Here is a sample of what one can find about +Levada, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and the Scandal, thanks to Google:

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2004_press_releases/111204_withdraw_from_bishops_race.htm

and

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/12/MNGE79QGG71.DTL

and

http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-01-19/news/feature_1.html

and

http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-05-21/news/feature.html

There is a lot more out there ... I got hundreds of Google hits by using the terms archbishop Levada "San Francisco" abuse scandal.

Also, go to http://www.bishop-accountability.org and use their Google tool to search the site on Levada. 12 documents come up.

More raw data for researchers ... and for Rome.

My view: Abp. Levada is, and has been, part of the cover-up. If the Pope moves Levada to the CDF, I will view it as the highest-level decision that the coverup should continue.

May God have mercy on him ... and on us.

Lee

[Lady In Blue]

I heard Fr Fessio say on a local conservative talk show a week or so ago that "the rumor is: that the position that Cardinal Ratzinger had, will not be filled." I think Fr Fessio has a little bit more inside info than some other people.

[Dominick]

Is that a deaconess?

No but a adult woman alter server. Still not allowed to incense afaik.

[murphE]

adult woman alter server

I've never seen or heard of such a thing before.

[26lemoncharlie]

The wisdom of Pope Benedict XVI is very deep! Evidently there will be some redification of Archbishop Levada and a rethinking on his part of his convictions.

If he is head of CDF, then he will have to study very hard and defend the laws of the Catholic Church and the Scripture.