Donald Wuerl

The Most Reverend  Donald William Wuerl
Archbishop of Washington
Archbishop Wuerl (right) celebrating Mass
Diocese	Washington
Enthroned	June 22, 2006
Reign ended	incumbent
Predecessor	Theodore Edgar McCarrick
Ordination	December 17, 1966
Consecration	January 6, 1986
Other	Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle Bishop of Pittsburgh
Personal details
Born	November 12, 1940 (1940-11-12) (age 69) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Alma mater	Mount St. Mary's Seminary Catholic University of America Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas

Styles of Donald Wuerl
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Archbishop
Posthumous style	not applicable

Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the sixth and current Archbishop of Washington, having previously served as Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006.

Biography

Early life

Donald Wuerl was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Francis J. (1910–1994) and Mary Anne (née Schiffauer) Wuerl. The second of four children, he has two brothers, Wayne and Dennis, and one sister, Carol. His mother died when he was young, and his father later remarried Catherine Cavanaugh (d. 1981), who raised Donald and his siblings. Wuerl attended St. Mary of the Mount Parish and School in Pittsburgh's Mount Washington neighborhood.

Education

He studied at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. from 1960 to 1963. He then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, from where he obtained his doctorate in theology in 1974.

Early career

He was ordained a priest on December 17, 1966.^[1] His first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Rosalia parish in Pittsburgh's Greenfield neighborhood and as secretary to then-Pittsburgh bishop John Wright, who was elevated to cardinal in 1969; Wuerl was his full-time secretary in Vatican City from 1969 until Wright's death in 1979.

Because Cardinal Wright had to use a wheelchair due to his severe arthritis in 1978, Wuerl, as Wright's secretary, was one of three non-cardinals permitted inside the conclave, which selected Karol Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II.^[2]

Wuerl was rector at St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh from 1981 to 1985. In 1982, he was made executive secretary to Bishop John Marshall for a papally mandated study of U.S. seminaries.

Episcopal career

Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle

Wuerl was appointed titular bishop of Rosemarkie and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle on December 3, 1985,^[1] which was controversial, in that he was to take over much of Archbishop Hunthausen's authority by being given "complete and final decision-making power" in several key areas.^[3] He was given complete authority over liturgy, the archdiocesan tribunal, seminarians and priestly formation, laicized priests, and issues of health care and ministry to homosexuals.

Wuerl was ordained bishop on January 6, 1986^[1] at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II.

Bishop of Pittsburgh

Wuerl was appointed as the eleventh bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh on February 12, 1988^[1] and installed on March 25, 1988.^[1]

In 1989, Wuerl closed Sacred Heart High School and St. Paul Cathedral High School, then merged them to establish (all female-only schools) Oakland Catholic High School in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The buildings at St. Paul Cathedral High School were used for the new high school.^[4]

Wuerl launched and hosted a television program, The Teaching of Christ, in 1990 and wrote an adult catechism with the same name. He taught at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh as a distinguished service professor. Wuerl is a chaplain for the Order of Malta, Federal Association, U.S.A. (since 1999), a division of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, commonly referred to as the Knights of Malta.^[5]

Wuerl closed 73 church buildings, which included 37 churches, and reduced 331 parishes by 117 through merging while bishop of Pittsburgh; he was managing the remaining 214 parishes when he left in June 2006.^[6] Wuerl's plan, The Parish Reorganization and Revitalization Project,^[7] is now used as a model for other dioceses seeking parish suppression. The mansion that housed Wuerl for over two decades and four previous bishops in the Diocese of Pittsburgh is being sold since the new bishop, David Zubik, decided to live at St. Paul's Seminary. The Jacobethan Revival house, at 9,842 square feet with 24 rooms, which include 11 bedrooms, 6 full baths, and one half bath, has an appraised value of $1.5 million and is one of the largest homes in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh.^[8] As of March 2009, the property was listed for sale at $2.5 million; it formerly housed an extensive collection of antiques, Oriental rugs, and art during Wuerl's residency.^[9]

Archbishop of Washington

Wuerl was installed as archbishop of Washington on June 22, 2006^[1] at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and received the pallium from Pope Benedict XVI on June 29, 2006.

Wuerl has been chairman of the board of directors at the National Catholic Educational Association since December 12, 2005.^[10][11] He is also chancellor at the Catholic University of America.

Positions on moral and political issues

President George W. Bush and Laura Bush welcome outgoing archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick, left, the incoming archbishop of Washington, Donald W. Wuerl, far right, and papal nuncio Pietro Sambi to the White House

He is considered to be theologically conservative but not authoritarian. He supports determining whether a pro-choice Catholic politician should be denied Communion on an individual basis, once saying, "Our primary job is to teach and try to convince people. The tradition in our country has not been in the direction of refusing Communion, and I think it's served us well."^{[citation needed]}

In November 2009, Wuerl signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws forcing them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.^[12] During this period, the D.C. City Council debated and passed a same-sex marriage bill, leading Archdiocese officials to threaten to curtail social services.^[13] Wuerl, however, later clarified his statement in a letter to the Washington Post, stating there was "no threat or ultimatum to end services, just a simple recognition that the new requirements by the city for religious organizations to recognize same-sex marriages in their policies could restrict our ability to provide the same level of services as we do now."^[14] However, in December 2009, on the day of the bills passage, same-sex marriage advocates still contended that Wuerl had "refused to alter his official position" to reduce social services in the Archdiocese.^[15]

Criticism

Wuerl has been criticized in some Catholic liturgical circles for his response to Summorum Pontificum, which gave priests permission to celebrate the "Extraordinary Form" of the Roman Rite without having to receive episcopal permission. He issued a letter requiring priests in his diocese to receive prior permission from the diocese before celebrating a Mass in the Extraordinary Form. The relevant sections contradicting this action from "Summorum Pontificum" are:

Art. 2. In Masses celebrated without the people, each Catholic priest of the Latin rite, whether secular or regular, may use the Roman Missal published by Bl. Pope John XXIII in 1962, or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and may do so on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum. For such celebrations, with either one Missal or the other, the priest has no need for permission from the Apostolic See or from his Ordinary.

Art. 5.1 In parishes, where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonises with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favouring the unity of the whole Church.''

Bibliography

• The Forty Martyrs: New Saints of England and Wales, (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 1971)
• Fathers of the Church, (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 1975)
• The Catholic Priesthood Today, (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1976)
• The Teaching of Christ: A Catholic Catechism for Adults, (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 1976)
• St. Christopher: A Military Martyr (Unpublished, 1979)
• A Visit to the Vatican: For Young People, (Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1981)
• The Gift of Faith: A Question and Answer Version of The Teaching of Christ, (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001)

Notes and references

• Glenn, Francis A. (1993). Shepherds of the Faith 1843-1993: A Brief History of the Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. ISBN none. 

External links

• Catholic Hierarchy
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh History of Bishops Official Webpage
• Criticism of Archbishop Donald Wuerl
• Schools Controversy in Archdiocese of Washington

Episcopal succession