CHICAGO (IL)
SW News Herald
By JOE BOYLE • Thursday, September 25, 2014
Pastors on Chicago’s Southwest Side and in the southwest suburbs say they have a positive outlook after Pope Francis appointed Bishop Blase Cupich to replace Cardinal Francis George to lead the nation’s third largest diocese.
News began spreading last Friday night that Cupich, 65, who has served as bishop of Spokane, Wash., for the past four years, would replace the ailing George, 77.
A news conference was held Saturday to officially introduce Cupich, who was born and raised in Omaha, Neb. George introduced Cupich, who he said “brings a deep faith, quick intelligence, personal commitment and varied pastoral experiences” to the church. …
George had to deal with major issues during his tenure, including the closing of many Catholic schools as a result of dwindling enrollment and the sexual abuse scandal.
“As far as abuse, Cardinal George was an architect of the zero tolerance policy,” Furlan said. “There are groups out there that no matter what we do, it is not enough.”
One of those groups would be the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, who have questioned Cupich’s term in Spokane regarding abuse by priests. The group believes the bishop has not done enough to deal with the problem of sexual abuse among some priests.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.