Archbishop Hughes Boston Native Retires, by Michael Paulson, Boston Globe, June 13, 2009

Archbishop Hughes, Boston Native, Retires

By Michael Paulson
Boston Globe
June 13, 2009

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/06/hughes_retires.html?s_campaign=8315

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday accepted the retirement of Archbishop Alfred Clifton Hughes, a West Roxbury native and former Boston auxiliary bishop, as the archbishop of New Orleans. (Bishops must offer to retire at 75, but the pope can leave them in place as long as he wants; Hughes is now 18 months past the big birthday.)

Hughes has had a pretty rough run in New Orleans, where the archdiocese was decimated by Hurricane Katrina, and where the archbishop decided he needed to close multiple parishes (and allow the arrest of some protesters in the process) because the Catholic population had dropped so precipitously. Hughes has also been criticized for his role as an aide to Cardinal Bernard F. Law in Boston during the period when abusive priests were being moved from parish to parish. This year he also drew headlines when he refused to attend the commencement at Xavier University because Donna Brazile, the Democratic political consultant and a Catholic who supports abortion rights, was being honored. Over at Whispers in the Loggia, Rocco Palmo sums up Hughes's time in New Orleans this way: "a prelate whose seven-year tenure proved unpopular in many quarters, both as a result of Hughes' history in the abuse-tarred Boston chancery over earlier decades and his more recent task of handling the 370,000-member archdiocese's need for post-storm adjustments."

The pope appointed Bishop Gregory Michael Aymond, a New Orleans native who had been overseeing the diocese of Austin, to replace Hughes. In its coverage of the transition, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

"At the news conference called to introduce the new archbishop, Hughes praised Aymond's skills and dedication to the church. But that done, he changed course, reflecting on his own eight tumultuous years in office -- years that included the Sept. 11 attacks, the clergy sex abuse scandal, Hurricane Katrina and the current economic downturn -- and asked forgiveness for his mistakes.

'I want publicly to express my sorrow and beg forgiveness for those who experienced continued hurt or also experienced anger,' he said. 'I have never wanted in any way to hurt anyone. Obviously, difficult decisions do hurt people in ways that we don't want.'"

The Times-Picayune has archived its coverage of Hughes's tenure here.

(Photo, by Essdras M. Suarez of the Globe staff, shows Archbishop Hughes (right) blessing environmental workers in New Orleans on Aug. 31, 2008.)