From the article:
Church Militant has learned that the archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has hired prestigious law firm Jones Day to represent Cdl. Wuerl in response to the Pennsylvania grand jury report. Jones Day represents major American corporations, including Procter & Gamble, CitiGroup, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and American Airlines, to name just a few.
Reports are that to retain this firm is $50,000 to $75,000 per month. Church Militant has queried the archdiocese of Washington, D.C. asking who is paying for this representation and where the money is coming from. As of the time of this report, the archdiocese has not responded.
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Throughout the entire process, Wuerl has maintained that he did not move priests from parish to parish.
CBS Reporter Nikki Battiste: "Did you quietly move priests around?"
Cardinal Wuerl: "That wasn't our process."
Of course, that weasel language betrays the fact that such a thing was actually done. Wuerl’s name figures large in the recent Grand Jury report from the attorney general of the state of Pennsylvania. Here is the account that I published just last week dealing with the abuser priest from my own home parish:
On July 12, 1988, a letter was sent to Bishop Wuerl from "Concerned Parishioners" of Holy Spirit. This letter outlined concerns about drug use and excessive drinking to the point of intoxication by Wellinger. The parishioners also expressed concern about Wellinger exposing the young people of the church to illegal drugs.
On June 22, 1989, Father Theodore Rutkowski of the Office of Clergy and Pastoral Life received a letter from a parishioner at Holy Spirit. Bishop Wuerl was carbon copied in the correspondence. In this letter, the parishioner listed a number of problems that the parish was having with Wellinger. In part, the letter read "Just to refresh your memory and bring you up to date on John's ministry here at Holy Spirit here are some of the significant problems . . ." The list included: "Giving drugs and alcohol to teens;" "Teens in the parish have been warned by their parents about drugs from Father;" and "Young men staying at the parish house."
On June 3, 1991, Wellinger was drinking alcoholic beverages with a 24-year-old man in the rectory. Wellinger unbuttoned the man's pants and began to perform oral sex on him without consent. A few days later, the victim reported the incident to the Diocese. Wellinger was subsequently questioned by Diocesan officials, at which time he admitted to the unsolicited sexual activity with the victim. Wellinger was then sent to St. Michael's Community in St. Louis, Missouri for an evaluation. Wellinger's absence from the parish was explained as a request for resignation for "reasons of health."
On January 2, 1992, a meeting took place between Wuerl and Wellinger. The Bishop agreed that Wellinger could return to priestly ministry and was appointed as Parochial Vicar (Pro Tem) at St. George in Allentown [PA, in another diocese across the state].
The site also reports that Wuerl's upcoming book, “What Do You Want to Know?”, has been cancelled by the publisher. It was described as “Wuerl's advice to everyday Catholics when inviting non-Catholics to friendship.”
The site is also reporting that another attorney general – New York this time – is outlining plans for a similar investigation and report.
the eight Catholic dioceses in New York could prove to be a target-rich environment for any grand jury investigation.
The eight dioceses of New York are Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, New York, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre and Syracuse. Each diocese has more than its fair share of abuse and episcopal cover-up spanning many years, including recent years.
In the diocese of Albany, the homosexualization of the Church got underway in the late 1960s under Bp. Edwin Broderick, ordinary from 1969 to 1976. Broderick was a protege of powerful New York Cdl. Francis Spellman, whose active homosexuality was well known but covered up by Church officials and the media.
During Broderick's tenure, Albany became known for accepting and promoting gay seminarians and priests. When Bp. Howard Hubbard succeeded Broderick, the gaying of the diocese accelerated greatly. Hubbard was bishop for nearly 40 years and among many disturbing cases, he was linked to Thomas Zalay, who, in 1978, committed suicide at age 25.
The revelations surfaced when Zalay's brother, Andrew, discovered a letter, written by Zalay shortly before his death, alleging homosexual activity with Hubbard. Zalay said Hubbard justified homosexual acts by suggesting the Bible defined celibacy as being free of sexual contact with women; therefore, according to the bishop, homosexual acts aren't sinful.
Zalay regarded homosexual acts as sinful. He didn't consider himself a homosexual and wanted to get away from Hubbard. The only way to escape him, he concluded, was suicide. Zalay set himself on fire at his parents' home.
Hubbard also let a known homosexual predator priest, Fr. John Fitzpatrick, free access to high school students, whom he would take on regular outings after school. His predatory behavior was known as early as the late 1960s and continued over decades. After a sex abuse allegation in 1993, Hubbard sent Fitzpatrick away to a treatment center, only to place him back in ministry as a chancery aide for the next three years when further allegations of abuse surfaced.
Over his nearly 40-year reign, Hubbard became infamous for covering up cases of homosexual predator priests. In the nearby diocese of Rochester, Matthew Clark was bishop from 1979 to 2012, largely overlapping Hubbard's time in Albany. In fact, Hubbard and Clark were known to be extremely intimate associates. They often appeared together and were seen as essentially inseparable.
As a point of interest, Bp. Clark was the spiritual director to the young Timothy Dolan (now Cardinal Archbishop of New York City) during his time in seminary at the North American College in Rome.
This is a story that is going to be on the front pages for a long time. The “Holy Mother Church” wagon is about to have its wheels fall off, and it isn’t going anywhere for a long, long time.
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