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CURRENT ISSUE: May 23, 2005
VOL.
43, NO. 11Oakland,
CA
Archbishop Levada to leave S.F. for key post in the Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI on May 13 appointed Archbishop William
Levada of San Francisco to the pope's former job as guardian of the Catholic
faith, making the leader of San Francisco's Catholics the highest-ranking
American ever to serve at the Vatican.
Archbishop Levada, 68, was named prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, a post that the former Cardinal Ratzinger himself held for
nearly a quarter century until his election as pope on April 19.
In his new post, Archbishop Levada will be responsible for overseeing
all aspects of Church teaching. His portfolio covers some of the Church's
most sensitive issues, including sexually abusive priests.
Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron expressed joy at the appointment and said,
“We know first hand of Archbishop Levada's great devotion to the
Gospel of Christ and his zeal in making known all the saving truths of
our faith.”
Retired Oakland Bishop John Cummins noted Archbishop Levada's theological
and pastoral experience, his friendship with Pope Benedict and the challenges
he will face in his new post. “Friendship will provide strength,
support and assurance from Pope Benedict XVI,” he said.
Church observers say the choice of Archbishop Levada -- a veteran of the
Church's institutions and well-versed in social trends confronting the
Church - is a sign that Pope Benedict intends to steer a traditional course
while also engaging the larger world.
Archbishop Levada, who has served in San Francisco since 1995, worked
as a staff member at the congregation from 1976 to 1982. Since 2002 he
has been one of four archbishops to hold membership in the congregation.
With the job, he will almost certainly be named a cardinal, but will be
known as “pro-prefect” until he receives a cardinal's red
hat.
Archbishop Levada emerged as a top contender for the job after he became
the first U.S. prelate to have a private audience with the new pope. The
two men have known each other for nearly 25 years, since they were both
at the congregation in the early 1980s.
Brian Saint-Paul, editor of Crisis magazine, said Pope Benedict and Archbishop
Levada are on “the same page” in dealing with controversy,
preferring to “persuade” before turning to discipline.
“Pope Benedict trusts this man, and he knows better than anyone
else what is involved in heading up this congregation,” Saint-Paul
said. “He believes that Archbishop Levada is fully equipped to do
that work.”
Bill May, chairman of the San Francisco group, Catholics for the Common
Good, said the archbishop has displayed courage in speaking out on Church
doctrine. He has “presided over a see where the Church is deeply
opposed and is frequently openly mocked and abused,” May said, but
“he has shown that he is willing and able to put himself at risk
when public opinion is against him.”
May praised the archbishop for speaking out against
gay marriage when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses
to homosexual couples and for leading a walk against abortion this past
January.
He has also shown that he can be pragmatic and open. “Archbishop
Levada is conservative in his approach to theological issues, but he seems
to take care to explain his own positions carefully and without rancor,”
said Father Richard McBrien of the University of Notre Dame.
In 1997, Archbishop Levada brokered an agreement with the city of San
Francisco after a new law would have forced Catholic Charities to provide
benefits to domestic partners. He persuaded the city to change the law
so employees of church agencies could designate any legal member of the
household as beneficiary.
During the 2004 presidential campaign he took a moderate stance on the
issue of politicians who support abortion rights, saying that politicians
have a “complex and difficult task” and he would not deny
communion to abortion rights supporters until he could “listen to
their concerns” and help them examine Catholic teaching.
He has also wrestled with the clergy sexual abuse crisis, serving on the
U.S.-Vatican commission that made final revisions to norms governing cases
of priestly sexual abuse, and in San Francisco he has been faced with
more than 70 cases of clergy sexual abuse and settlements that have forced
cuts in archdiocesan staff.
He also helped update the Catechism of the Catholic Church and chairs
the U.S. bishops' doctrine committee.
Archbishop Levada will inherit a staff of about 40 people who will oversee
as much discipline as doctrine. The office has jurisdiction over marriage
annulments, sins of the clergy, all abuse cases, and any case that appears
to violate the teachings of the Church.
He was born June 15, 1936, in Long Beach, studied at St. John's Seminary
in Camarillo and at the North American College and the Gregorian University
in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in theology. He was ordained at St.
Peter's Basilica as a priest of the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles in 1961.
In Los Angeles he worked as associate pastor, teacher and campus ministry
chaplain, and in 1982 became secretary of the California Catholic Conference.
He was made auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 1983 and became Archbishop
of Portland, Ore., in 1983. He came to San Francisco in 1995.
(Barbara Erickson, associate editor of The Catholic Voice, and Peggy
Polk of Religion New Services' Rome bureau contributed to this report.)
Archbishop Levada meets the press after his appointment
to Rome.
REUTERS/Lou Dematteis
