Bishop Tobin: Archbishop Weakland ‘imposed his vision of the Church upon his own fiefdom’

August 28, 2009

In his latest diocesan newspaper column, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence briefly chides some critics of retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland before offering strong criticism of the archbishop’s tenure.

“If his service has been marred by human imperfections, so be it. So is mine, and so is yours,” Bishop Tobin writes. He adds:

[A]lthough the Archbishop always took pride in his liberal theological tendencies and his public pronouncements on controversial issues, he seemed to be genuinely puzzled, even hurt, when others labeled him a dissident.

He passionately promoted the dignity of the laity and their role in the governance and ministry of the Church, but had little hesitation about quietly using their money to cover-up his egregious sexual offense.

He disparaged the secrecy of the Holy See but for twenty years hid his own indiscretions behind the walls of the chancery, indiscretions that were not just a matter of personal behavior but also profoundly affected the reputation and welfare of the Church.

He railed against what he considered the authoritarian pontificate of Pope John Paul II, but clearly used his own persona and authority to impose his vision of the Church upon his own fiefdom in Milwaukee, easily dismissing those who opposed him as conservative, right-wing nuts.

In short, like many dissidents in the Church, throughout his life Archbishop Weakland benefited generously from the support of the institutional Church, but never hesitated to criticize the Church whenever it served his own purposes to do so …

Without a doubt the Archbishop’s pilgrimage has been perplexing; it’s taken a lot of twists and turns along the way. Nonetheless, there’s much the rest of us pilgrims can learn from his travels including this: that whenever a pilgrim wanders off the track and away from the group, he runs the risk of getting hurt or lost, and in so doing, impedes the pilgrimage, and diminishes the peace and joy of his fellow travelers.

 

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Further information:

• Bishop Tobin: Archbishop Weakland’s Perplexing Pilgrimage (Rhode Island Catholic)
• Archbishop Weakland admits relationships with several men, questions immorality of homosexual acts (CWN, May 15)