WASHINGTON
Inlander
By Scott A. Leadingham
It’s a chilly, late-October night, and Blase Cupich is clearly interested in one thing: a hearty meal.
“I’ll take the chili,” he says.
That, and engaging in good conversation with a crowd of eager 20- and 30-something Catholics.
With that dinner order, he sounds like any other person at Jack and Dan’s bar and grill. And even though it’s a Gonzaga University mainstay, where priests can often be found downing a pint, the man dressed in the unmistakable white collar is far from a regular patron.
He is, after all, among the most famous Catholic leaders in America at the moment, and the most in-demand for news media interviews. Little more than a month ago, most people, rank-and-file Catholics included, didn’t know his name, let alone how to pronounce it. (For the record: SOO-pitch.)
On this night, he’s bishop of the Spokane diocese. But in a few short weeks he’ll lead the third-largest Catholic diocese in the U.S. as archbishop of Chicago. …
Appointed in 2010 to lead the Spokane diocese out of a bankruptcy brought on by sexual abuse lawsuits, Cupich is generally seen as an administrator in the mold of Pope Francis: able to insist on change where it’s needed, and capable of coming into a negative situation and managing with skill and grace.
At the time, the Spokane diocese was close to selling off parishes to pay debts to victims, and Cupich considers the fact that no parishes were closed among his top accomplishments in Spokane. He says he didn’t even know about the diocese’s deep legal woes until after he arrived.
“The first two years here were very, very hard. Just to make sure that we would not be in a situation where parishes would collapse because they would be confiscated,” he says. “I was very concerned about that. I knew it wasn’t just about the closing of buildings and the confiscation of property, it was about the real destruction of communities.”
It’s not over
The figurative destruction of communities is one thing, but the very real harm brought about by sexual abuse is something of which he says he is very much aware. Late last month, it was reported that Cupich had removed a retired priest, Rev. Dan Wetzler, from the ministry after “credible allegations” surfaced. It was the second time Wetzler had been accused; he had previously been exonerated after a church investigation.
That move, and Cupich’s appointment in Chicago, was criticized by the victims’ rights group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“He’s doing the absolute bare, legalistic minimum. Pretty much because he has to,” SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy says of Cupich.
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.