BishopAccountability.org
	Clergy Sex Abuse Survivors Unhappy with Potential Promotion of SF Archbishop KCBS [San Francisco CA] May 11, 2005 (KCBS) The head of San Francisco's Roman Catholic Archdiocese could soon be given a promotion, which would call him to Rome. But that choice does not sit well with some clergy sex abuse survivors. KCBS reporter Holly Quan says Archbishop William Levada worked with Pope Benedict XVI in the 1980s, and he was the first to receive a private audience with the pope after he was ordained. Time Magazine now reports that Levada is the one expected to be tapped to take over the Pope's old job: Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican watchdog. Dan McNevin with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said Archbishop Levada continues to ignore their pleas to "out" accused priests. "I am concerned if this man is elevated to a position where he is in charge of worldwide doctrine and worldwide enforcement of sex abuse that nothing will really change and we'll be heading in a direction where secrecy instead of protection will be prioritized," McNevin said. "I hope that I eat my words," said McNevin. "I hope that he takes to this position a heightened awareness and does the right thing at least by survivors. But my concern is, if he's denying justice here in San Francisco, he will do the same thing on an international stage." But Professor Paul Murphy, Director of the USF Lane Center for Catholic Studies, said Levada has a clean track record on the sex abuse issue. "Archbishop Levada has I think tried to listen to people on this," Murphy said. "Perhaps he hasn't responded as well as some people might think, but certainly he's no Cardinal Law, if you know what I mean. Cardinal Law being the Archbishop of Boston who did transfer people repeatedly for many years and effectively lied about having done that." "He's not someone who has been negligent," said Murphy. "Has he done everything that an organization like SNAP would want? Probably not. But the fact of the matter is he has not been negligent. Has he been as transparent and as willing to dialogue with as many people as would like to dialogue with him? Probably not. But he's definitely not someone who can be criticized for being negligent in these regards." "Levada is a person who holds a doctorate in theology from a Roman university. He worked in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with then-Cardinal Ratzinger. He was also on the committee concerning the child sex abuse scandal by priests in the United States." Neither Levada or officials at the San Francisco Archdiocese have commented on reports of a possible Vatican promotion.