MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
Retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who had hoped to return to the Benedictine monastery where he began his religious life more than 70 years ago, will not be going after all.
Weakland, 87, had planned to move from Milwaukee to St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa., by Sept. 1. But the retired prelate told Milwaukee’s Catholic Herald that the archabbot there asked him to postpone those plans indefinitely.
“Personally, I wanted to get back to the monastery and get back to the monastic routine,” Weakland said in a story published on the Herald’s Web site on Tuesday. “It’s always been a part of who I am, but it doesn’t seem as if it will work out.”
Weakland’s impending departure was the subject of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on Sunday. He was to be the guest of honor at a July 17 farewell luncheon organized by priests — an event that was drawing criticism from clergy sex abuse survivors who see him as complicit in crimes against them.
The Rev. James Connell, former vice chancellor of the archdiocese and now a victim advocate, sent an open letter to Weakland asking him to cancel the luncheon and take other steps to assuage the concerns of survivors.
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