Protests and Praise Mark Archbishop’s Departure

Archbishop William Levada said goodbye Sunday to 3,500 enthusiastic supporters who filled St. Mary’s Cathedral while more than 100 clergy sexual-abuse protesters stood vigil in front of the church.

Levada, 68, is heading off this month to become the chief guardian of Catholic doctrine for Pope Benedict XVI, the highest post to be held by an American at the Vatican.

Although this was supposed to be a day of celebration, a drama quietly played itself out behind the scenes before Levada celebrated his farewell Mass in the archdiocese.

Levada was served with a subpoena ordering him to be deposed on behalf of about 250 plaintiffs in sexual-abuse lawsuits against the Portland Archdiocese in Oregon.

When Levada balked at accepting the subpoena, Cookie Gambucci, who runs a court support services company in nearby Martinez, said she told him he could receive it then or that it would be served on him at the altar during the service.

She said Levada accepted the subpoena, but told her: “This is a disgrace to the church.”

Portland attorney Erin Olson, who represents 15 of the Oregon plaintiffs, said Levada had been avoiding the subpoena since May.

She said attorneys wanted to ask Levada, who previously headed the Portland Archdiocese, about policies on sexual-abuse cases before he left for the Vatican, where it would have been difficult to reach him.

Maurice Healy, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, confirmed that a subpoena had been served.

But he questioned why it hadn’t happened during regular business hours, noting that the archbishop had been in public numerous times since his appointment to the prefect’s post in May.

The Mass itself went off smoothly, with Levada taking the pulpit to reflect on his decade as head of the archdiocese.

“These 10 years have been a significant part of my life as a priest, as a man, and as a bishop,” he said. “... I would rather be remembered as a shepherd who shared the face of Jesus with the faithful.”

He added: “I firmly believe what I have experienced in my life among you has been a great grace for me. It has enriched me for the work of the universal church for which Pope Benedict has called me.”

Levada, who is scheduled to leave for his new job as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Aug. 17, will be honored at a farewell gala Saturday attended by representatives of various parishes, members of the clergy, lay leaders, interfaith religious leaders and others.

Bishop John Wester will serve as interim administrator until a new archbishop is chosen in about three months, Healy said.

After Sunday’s service, hundreds of parishioners crowded into the church basement for a reception to meet individually with the archbishop. They waited patiently in line to congratulate Levada, to ask for his blessing or to pose with him for photos.

Henry and Norma Cesena, lay ministers in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, came away glowing after their brief encounter with Levada.

“We find him to be a very straightforward person,” said Henry Cesena, 71. “Very sharing, very attentive.”

Regarding the controversy swirling around Levada over protesters’ allegations that he has not done enough to ferret out clergy sexual abuse, Cesena said: “You can’t please everyone. Father is doing everything he can.”

Darlene Domingo, 43, of San Francisco, said “a lot of this abuse happened when he wasn’t archbishop. It happened two or three decades ago.”

“I’m hoping his view from San Francisco can be brought to the Vatican,” Domingo added. “We’re one of the most liberal cities in the U.S. We’re very open-minded.”

Elizabeth Dunn, 41, of San Francisco, who greeted Levada by kissing him on the cheeks, said she was impressed with how Levada was able to develop a compromise on the issue of benefits for domestic partners.

San Francisco adopted an ordinance in 1997 requiring all city contractors to offer benefits to gay and lesbian employees. Catholic Charities, which received $5 million in contracts a year, would have been required to comply.

Although Levada at first objected to the idea, he later proposed a compromise that expanded the definition of domestic partners to include other unmarried employees living together, such as a mother and her adult daughter.

“He could have been really hard-lined and said, “Absolutely no,’ ” Dunn said.

After Levada greeted the final well-wisher, he responded to a reporter’s question about how he, in his new post, would handle the sexual-abuse cases.

“The bishops in the U.S. are the ones responsible for that. They’re doing a very good job, and I will do my best to support them,” he said.

One of the protesters, Dan McNevin, an East Bay leader of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, (SNAP), said: “My response to that is he was passing the buck. He’s now in charge of the issue at the Vatican.”

McNevin said that part of Levada’s job will be to preside over canon trials on alleged perpetrators, and that Levada will recommend to the pope which priests should be defrocked.

From 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., protesters held a silent vigil in front of St. Mary’s, formally known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption.

The protesters held giant letters forming words reading: “In memory of children abused by clergy.”

Mary Grant, western regional director of SNAP, who drove up from Long Beach, said she wants Levada to release the names of priests accused of abuse so the Catholic community can protect their children.

“We continue to protect molesters by hiding reports of abuse,” she said. “That’s how this mess was created in the first place.”

Healy, the archdiocese spokesman, said the church has taken steps to remove priests suspected of abuse and has offered outreach services to victims, but he said one-fourth of the allegations have turned out to be false.