PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly
BY MATTHEW GAMBINO
For all the opportunity the World Meeting of Families presents to strengthen families and invigorate the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archbishop Charles Chaput is looking forward to one thing in particular this September.
“I’m looking forward to it being over with,” he said during a wide-ranging recent interview (see the full transcript). “I say that jokingly but I mean it. It’s an extra responsibility that requires a whole lot of my time. I haven’t had a normal year yet as a bishop (of Philadelphia).”
Archbishop Chaput looked back over his past four years leading the Philadelphia Archdiocese during perhaps the most tumultuous period in its 200-year history, and ahead to the historic World Meeting of Families and the visit of Pope Francis to the city this September.
He recalled that his first year beginning in September 2011 was occupied with dealing with the fallout from the second Philadelphia grand jury report on sexual abuse of children by some priests. The following year saw the revelations of tens of millions in annual operating losses for the archdiocese’s central administration and hundreds of millions in underfunded obligations to pensions, insurance and other funds.
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.