Archbishop choice seen as imminent: Pittsburgh's bishop called top candidate

Boston Globe ^ | June 8, 2003 | Walter V. Robinson and Michael Rezendes

[tridentine]

The appointment of Boston's new archbishop is imminent, according to knowledgeable church officials, who said that Bishop Richard G. Lennon knows he is about to be replaced and the archdiocese has already identified at least three sites that may be used for the announcement.

In interviews last week, church officials said they believe that Pope John Paul II's choice to head the most troubled of American archdioceses is likely to be made public this month, with this Tuesday the earliest possible date.

And some church officials privy to internal discussions said they now believe that -- even if the decision has not been finalized -- the most likely choice is Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh.

[Notwithstanding]

just sharing my thoughts

thought you might agree a little with them, so i posted them to you

[sitetest]

oh

[sinkspur]

But lets not place thier worth in that poverty or asceticism when doing so actually places too much focus on valuing people based upon their relationship to material things.

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Ntwstndg, I had a friggin' baseball coach tell us in high school "If you can live with nothing, you can be anything!

He was trying to get us off of distractions from baseball, and I don't think he realized he was being profound.

I wasn't much of a ball player, but I never forgot that.

You want to be anything you want to be? Then don't let anything get in the way!

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord did I mess that one up in my previous post! I've caught most of my mistakes in the past few posts, but next time I will look something up before I try to post off the top of my head. Yikes.

[Notwithstanding]

I have posted on this thread several times that poverty can be a great thing.

Anyone who has been a plebe at a service academy knows about asceticism. And the bit about being able to do anything, once you have lived with nothing is true. Persevering despite great adversity is a true high.

My personal choices have led me andmy wife to eschew a materialistic cul-de-sac life.

But that is because we know our own weakness toward material things. I presume others may have different waeknesses.

When I see an obese person my first thought is how sorry for them that the world knows their weakness.

If YOU find wealth is an impediment, then eschew it. But don't presume it is the same impediment for all persons in the smae way it is for you.

[dsc]

"I'm in solidarity with the poor."

Don't you automatically excommunicate yourself when you use the word "solidarity?"

[dsc]

"When I see an obese person my first thought is how sorry for them that the world knows their weakness."

And if I see that on your face, I'll be thinking, "How about if *you* live with chronic liver disease for 25 years, and let's see how good you look."

The mainstream medical profession is flat full of crap to attribute all weight problems to overeating.

[Notwithstanding]

Are you obese?

[Notwithstanding]

Poverty is a vow that some orders require of their members.

It is not one required for priestly ordination.

[dsc]

"Are you obese?"

That makes a difference? What, if I'm not, I don't have the experience to know what I'm talking about, and if I am, I'm just making excuses?

I wondered how you would respond to my note, but I have to confess I didn't expect something like that. Not on FR. Over at DU, sure.

[Desdemona]

Poverty is a vow that some orders require of their members.

It is not one required for priestly ordination.

Very true. I've known priests who own libraries worth of books to safeguard them from being discarded from regular libraries.

It's more a matter of owning in excess. If it's conspicuous, you have too much.

[Aquinasfan]

I find it stunning that Mahoney is still in charge in LA

I still can't get over that gruesome Taj Mahoney.

[Aquinasfan]

Not to change the subject or anything, but does anyone know anything about Bishop Wuerl?

We need someone here to clean house. Last year St. John's seminary in Brighton had zero new seminarians, and it's not for a lack of candidates. I personally know of two candidates who feel that they were blackballed, one for having given the wrong answers to questions regarding homosexuality and the other for being "too orthodox" (the candidate's words).

[american colleen]

I hear mixed stuff about him... someone in the National Catholic Register called him a "bridge builder" (shrudder)!

I know two guys who left St. John's in the early 80s because it was too gayed. But interim Bishop Lennon took over and it was supposed to be better under him. And the new guy just appointed is supposed to be orthodox. But the vocations take seed in our parishes... and that can be a problem!

What years did the two guys you knew have those experiences at the seminary here?

I hope and pray we get a holy, orthodox bishop who will stand firmly against the prevailing tide of heterodoxy here.

[dsc]

Somebody tell me what would happen if the Vatican started getting petitions signed by a couple of million American Catholics.

Say, for instance, a petition that Rome dispatch investigators to clean every last SSAD sufferer out of every (remaining) seminary.

Say, for instance, that Rome respond rapidly (within hours) to threatened wreckovation of historical churches.

[Notwithstanding]

I see, you claim some special knowledge and incite, yet won't discuss how it is that you have it.

BTW, obesity is a cause of chronic liver disease.

[ninenot]

I think you got him.

[Notwithstanding]

sorry - "inciting" is what you are trying to do by maligning my admitted empathy for obese people

I meant to post that you claim special "insight".

[drstevej]

***I hope and pray we get a holy, orthodox bishop ***

A very appropriate prayer.

Sad, however, that there would be bishops who were neither holy nor orthodox or both! Especially since to them are entrusted the souls of Christ's sheep for care.