Archbishop Weakland: "Please feel sorry for me."

The Priestly Pugilist ^ | May 27, 2009 | Priestly Pugilist

[Balt]

The following story is by Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times. Be advised that your PP never provides a link to the Times, Nor does he expend any effort to conform to the original source's rules for reproduction of material where the Times is concerned, since they don't deserve that kind of consideration.

Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, the former head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese who has stirred up new controversy with his soon-to-be-released memoir about his decades in church leadership, his homosexual orientation and the scandal that forced his retirement, said on Tuesday that he had decided not to retire to St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, N.J.

Archbishop Weakland had been the worldwide leader of the Benedictine Order and then archbishop of Milwaukee for 25 years until 2002, when he resigned amid revelations that he had used church money to pay a $450,000 settlement to a man with whom he had had a relationship years earlier.

The archbishop, who is 82 and now living in a retirement community in Milwaukee, had been invited by the monks in Morristown to live out his days in their abbey. But, he said in an interview Tuesday, “they were getting very worried about the situation because of what they thought would be negative publicity. So I withdrew my desire to go there.”

The Benedictine monks at St. Mary’s Abbey administer the adjacent Delbarton School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school for boys, where last year’s tuition was nearly $25,000. Archbishop Weakland said he had been told that the school was in the middle of a fund-raising campaign and that there was concern from lay people on its board about his retiring at the abbey.

The Rev. Giles Hayes, the abbot, said on Tuesday no one at the [school] asked or pressured Archbishop Weakland not to come. “He’s a real gentleman,” Abbot Hayes said, “and he wouldn’t have wanted to hurt us.” A trustee, Thomas J. Walsh, said he had heard of no pressure from board members or parents to withdraw the invitation.

The archbishop said he planned to stay in his retirement community but move from a house into an apartment building where he would have “a bit more protection” from the weather and the television cameras.

Four questions come to mind:

1. I'm not sure what meteorological phobias plague the archbishop, but if he's truely seeking protection against television cameras, why is he giving interviews and writing books about his gay canoodlings?

2. If Father Abbot is telling the truth, and his only concern is "nagative publicity" during a fund-raising campaign, and not the safety of the boys of the Delbarton school with the prospect of a notorious and famous homosexual living in their midst, what does that say about Father Abbot's priorities?

3. If the quoted trustee is telling the truth, and there was no pressure from board members or parents expressed, than from where did Archbishop Canoodle get his information that someone was becoming "very worried"?

4. Given the fact that Abbot Hayes is head of an abbey that runs a ritzy school for rich little boys, I should like more information about his rather interesting notion of what constitutes a "gentleman," since it obviously has nothing to do with living a moral life.

[mockingbyrd]

nah...that’s ok.

[ElPatriota]

Oh well... This is wonderful!

Sickos!

[MarkBsnr]

***Oh well... This is wonderful! ***

Remember - floor of hell, bishops’ skulls? With great talent comes great responsibility according to Jesus.

Also I remember something about the children...

[ElPatriota]

Remember - floor of hell, bishops’ skulls?

Yes... and we must not forget those who give cover and protection to evil... What's the term... accomplices, facilitators?