The shepherd’s crook was a cruel irony.
On Wednesday, as D.C. Catholics gathered for a Mass at St. Matthew’s commemorating Mary’s assumption into heaven, many congregants wondered which priest would say the Mass. The usual officiant of such a Mass — Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington — had just the day before been named 200 times in a grand jury report documenting thousands of cases of sexual abuse by priests and inaction or cover-ups by bishops.
From the back pews, it was impossible to see the faces of the priests processing in as Mass began, but soon, raised high enough for the whole congregation to see, there appeared a symbol that answered the question: The hooked staff that only a bishop carries. The crozier, as it’s called, represents a shepherd’s crook. But the man carrying it into St. Matthew’s on Wednesday didn’t come across as a fierce guardian of his flock.
Wuerl opened the Mass with a brief and unsatisfactory statement on “the stories” reported by the grand jury investigating Pennsylvania’s dioceses and parishes. Wuerl had served as the bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 until he came to Washington in 2006.
In three cases, the grand jury report suggests Wuerl either obfuscated or kept quiet records of abuse by priests under his supervision in Pittsburgh. One former priest, Rev. George Zirwas, was known to be part of a ring of priests who had exploited and raped teenage boys. Zirwas’s co-conspirators were convicted of their abuse during Wuerl’s first year, and fresh reports about Zirwas’s abuse of boys trickled in during Wuerl’s tenure there. Nevertheless, Wuerl moved him around to four different parishes before finally removing him.
This grand jury report comes on the heels of the Theodore McCarrick scandal. McCarrick, who was the former cardinal archbishop of Washington, is said to have roped seminarians into sexual situations, and more recently was accused of sexual conduct with a minor. McCarrick’s previous two dioceses, both in New Jersey, paid out large settlements to his victims.
Wuerl says that he somehow never knew about McCarrick’s actions. Priests all over the country had heard the rumors, yet Wuerl waves away the notion that he knew or should have known that his direct predecessor was an accused sexual predator.
Nor did Wuerl think it was such big deal.
“I don’t think this is some massive, massive crisis,” Wuerl said. “Disappointment” was the label he gave to the news that a prince of the church and a papal confidant had hosted gay sex parties, into which he recruited the aspiring priests in his charge.
Such insouciance has permeated Wuerl’s tone throughout. In his remarks before Wednesday’s Mass, he sounded like a corporate spokesman. He has not apologized to the Catholics of his diocese. He has not expressed anger at the behavior of McCarrick, or of the priests he oversaw in Pittsburgh, or whoever may have hid from him the truth of these men’s behavior. He has not acknowledged or addressed the anger of the average layman at our clergy.
Instead, Wuerl has, in effect, whispered, “Now, now, don’t get too upset. Let’s pray for the abuse victims and put our trust in God.”
But this is not the behavior of a good shepherd looking out for his sheep, whose friends and families and neighbors and seminarians and priests have been attacked by wolves. This is the behavior of a bureaucrat looking out for the reputation of his office.
At a time when Americans are losing faith in all sorts of institutions such as the media, the government, and business, Catholics and non-Catholics alike need church leaders whom they see are fighting fiercely for their interests.
Even under the most charitable interpretation of the facts in Washington and Pittsburgh, Wuerl has proven that he is not that man. His nonchalance and deflection of blame in the past week have shown that he is not up to the job of being a pastor and shepherd.
As is customary for a bishop at age 75, Wuerl two years ago submitted his resignation to Pope Francis. As often happens with bishops of high standing and good health, Pope Francis has not accepted it. It’s time he did so. The pope should accept Wuerl’s resignation today. The new archbishop can begin the long process of restoring trust in this crucial institution our country so needs.
