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  How Much More Can City's Catholics Take?

Newton Tab [Newton MA]
September 28, 2005

Why do bad things happen to good people?

It's one of the central questions we look to our religious leaders to for answers. It's also a question many are struggling to answer this week following Father Walter Cuenin's forced resignation from Newton's most vibrant parish.

Cuenin was - make that, still is - one of our most beloved religious leaders, a rare public figure who had few, if any, detractors in the city. It's hard to imagine a priest more perfectly suited for Newton: highly intelligent; welcoming to our diversity; able to rub elbows with the city's elite as well as its blue-collar residents; and willing to stand up for his beliefs - even when that meant challenging church leaders and rules which demean women and gays.

But as for why this happened to Cuenin, we may never receive any more satisfying answer the question than did Job in the Old Testament. The church is by no means a democracy, and is under no obligation to say more than it chooses.

So we are left to speculate. The official reasons given by the archdiocese seem patently absurd. That Cuenin was among the first to call for the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law was a likely factor. His differences with the church's stance on homosexuality, especially on the very weekend when the archdiocese was organizing a push to ban gay marriage, are suspect.

One thing does seem clear: This is another act of a church that is increasingly intolerant of diverging viewpoints, that fosters a culture of secrecy, a church that values absolute adherence to its doctrines more than the personal relationships forged in the course of 12 years between a beloved pastor and his flock.

So while we respect Cuenin's admonition to his flock last Saturday not to protest this decision, but to keep Our Lady's community strong, it's difficult to abide by his words. After all that has been wrought on this city's Catholics, after the strength that has been demonstrated by those who have remained loyal to the church, we can't blame those who find this last affront to Newton's Catholics one blow too many.

 
 

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