Group Asks Hunthausen Aide to Resign to Protest Papal Action
A group of Roman Catholic priests has called for a former colleague, Bishop Donald Wuerl, to resign from his post assisting censured Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen.
“Like many others in the American Catholic Church, we are scandalized by the injustice done to Hunthausen,” said Father John Oesterle, a leader of the Assn. of Pittsburgh Priests. The association represents about 50 of the 800 priests in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh but is not affiliated with the diocese.
Wuerl, a former associate general secretary of the Pittsburgh Diocese, was appointed Seattle auxiliary bishop by Pope John Paul II in December, 1985, after the Vatican said Hunthausen was “lacking in firmness.”
Seattle Archdiocese spokesman Russell Scearce said this week that neither Wuerl nor Hunthausen would comment on the Pittsburgh priests’ statement.
Hunthausen was criticized for, among other practices, allowing homosexuals to celebrate Mass in the Seattle Cathedral and permitting sterilizations in a Catholic hospital.
The Pittsburgh priests say they believe that Hunthausen was singled out because he had called for an end to the nuclear arms race and because he sought a pastoral approach to problems rather than enforcement of canon.
“In an effort to bring reconciliation to the situation, we call upon Donald Wuerl to resign,” said Oesterle.
Father Ronald Lengwin, a Pittsburgh Diocese spokesman, declined comment on the association’s statement.
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