BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Lames Bishop for His Ouster By Marie Szaniszlo Boston Herald [Newton MA] September 25, 2005 The popular and controversial Rev. Walter Cuenin bid Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton farewell yesterday, making the shocking charge from the pulpit that Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley had forced his resignation - by alleging that the car the congregation leased for Cuenin's use and the monthly stipend they paid him for the last 12 years violate archdiocesan policy. The charges so angered parishioners that, in a highly unusual move, their own finance council signed a statement saying that the council itself had recommended leasing the car, that the parish had paid priests a stipend before Cuenin even arrived in 1993 and the archdiocese's own audits had never questioned either practice. "This is clearly such a pretextural reason for getting rid of him. It shows not only is (O'Malley) completely inept, but mean-spirited enough to try to impugn the integrity of Father Cuenin instead of telling the truth, which is that he's simply not in step with the archbishop's demands," said Andrew Gately, who has been a parishioner for five years. Many others in the nearly standing-room-only congregation lashed out at O'Malley for pressuring another beloved, outspoken priest to resign in what they called a growing pattern of intimidation to quell dissent. "This is hypocrisy. This is a shame," Margaret Hamiah said. O'Malley's spokesman declined to comment yesterday. Cuenin has openly questioned church policies on women and gays, and was one of more than 50 priests who called on O'Malley's predecessor, Bernard Cardinal Law, to resign in December 2002 after revelations he had transferred known child molesters from parish to parish. Several other priests who called for Law's resignation, including the Rev. Robert Bowers of St. Catherine of Sienna in Charlestown and the Rev. Ronald Coyne of St. Albert the Great in Weymouth, have since resigned to try to spare their parishes from being closed by O'Malley. Cuenin urged his flock not to protest. "Please do not harbor any ill will toward the bishop. If you could put your energies into keeping this parish strong, that will be the greatest gift you could give to me," he said.
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