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March 11th, 2013 
David Schulberg the 3rd
Wuerl first came to national attention after Pope John Paul II named him
bishop of Pittsburgh in 1988, right in the middle of the first waves of
horrific revelations about predatory priests and the shameful way their
crimes were covered up by the church hierarchy. His predecessor had just
banned three priests in his diocese from public ministry. Another, a former
high school principal, was still serving as a diocesan administrator, and
after psychiatric treatment Wuerl made him a hospital chaplain.
Wuerl is on the record declaring zero tolerance for priests accused of sexual
abuse 14 years before that became official policy.
But a few weeks after that decision Wuerl met with the devout, deeply
disillusioned, and increasingly litigious family of one victim. They invited
Wuerl to dinner and, according to a lengthy and laudatory report in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2003, when Wuerl left that table his views of the
issue had changed. Before, his actions had been closely aligned Church
policies, which were basically a CYA masquerading as piety. Now Wuerl told
his staff it had to get its priorities straight: the first concern was the
injured party, the second was for the person’s family, the third – and only
the third – was the potential harm to the church and its reputation. He’s on
the record declaring zero tolerance for priests accused of sexual abuse 14
years before that became official policy.
But the accusations just kept coming, until it got hard to distinguish between
coverups, counter-charges, and good-faith efforts to set the clergy on a
more righteous – and legally defensible — path. In 1993 Wuerl fought to
have a priest accused of molesting a young teenager banned from public
ministry. But the Vatican reinstated him. Wuerl appealed and fought for two
more years before, finally, reluctantly, Rome agreed with the ban.
In the years that followed, maybe Wuerl just grew tired. According to SNAP,
more than 100 cases might have been brought against the diocese that were
nullified by Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations, which make it difficult
or impossible for many adults to seek redress for the crimes committed
against them as children. In 2010, Wuerl reportedly refused
to take action against a priest convicted twice of abusing children, quietly
sending him to Maine, where he continued to work without any warning to
parishioners or the public.
Wuerl’s staff declined to comment on these allegations. Meanwhile the Roman
hierarchy has silenced all cardinals, especially the Americans who were
giving daily briefings to the press and might have been in a position to
defend themselves if they chose. Leaks to Italian reporters by what are
presumed to be Italian clergy continue.
So, deeply imbued with the spirit of hypocrisy, the process of choosing the
new pope continues.
Before the gag order, Wuerl told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The first
and driving issue is the ability of the church to bring the Gospel once
again to those who think they know what the Gospel says and for whom they
believe it has no meaning.” One is tempted to say “amen to that.”
But what’s desperately needed after all this sleaze is to clear the air of
sophistry. What you really want to say to Wuerl there in San Pietro in
Vincoli is: “Now speak!”
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