Although he has sent in his resignation on reaching retirement age of 75, Seattle Catholic Archbishop Alex Brunett has told the pope he's ready to stay on the job. Brunett is the leader for about a half-million Catholics in Western Washington.
Because of the number of aging bishops in the United States, it takes the Vatican about two years to name a replacement.
Brunett told The Tacoma News Tribune he'd like to stay a bit longer -- as long as he's healthy and effective.
He's open to whatever the Vatican decides.
Brunett was appointed archbishop in 1997 after the death of Archbishop Thomas Murphy.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: RCN)
"In this article the bishop is portrayed as having "handled" the sex abuse crisis without forcing the diocese into bankruptcy. It appears that this means he was a good shepherd to the flock. You can educate people about how the bishop has treated survivors. You don't need to be an expert and quote facts and figures, you just need to write what you have experienced and what you feel.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your help."
(Quoted from a SNAP message)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/religion/story/606710.html
In response:
I had a dream that I was at a local theater watching a play about the
Seattle Archdiocese and its sexual abuse history. The archbishop was a main
character. The play setting in my dream was of the archbishop, waiting in an
antechamber after his death. He came to the horrible realization that God
existed after all and was different than the god inside the archbishop's
head which, he discovered, was only a construct of his theological
rationalizations. In the scene, God told the archbishop that he would remain
in purgatory until the prayers of the sexual assault victims he had come
across in life lifted him out. True to classic game theory, the archbishop,
a consummate game player, realized that it was in his own self interest that
the victims heal from their wounds to the extent that even the idea of
praying for him would enter their minds. At that moment, the dollar figure
he had quoted to the media in life about what the sexual abuse crisis cost
the diocese seemed meaningless since he knew that behind the figure were the
costs of all the psyche evaluation/treatment professionals,
paraprofessionals and lawyers and he had contracted with to control and
manage the victims to ensure that the victims would not seek justice within
the legal system. He realized that all the offensive moves he and his
predecessors created, which were unknown to victims, not only protected the
diocese but created enormous spiritual despair for the victims who contacted
the archdiocese for help after having been sexually assaulted by its
priests. Only in the theater, or a dream could the character of the
archbishop have the capacity to wonder exactly how his actions contributed
to the healing of the victims, or, if in fact, furthered their harm, and
only in a dream was it in his own self interest to care. In life, the
Archbishop can pride himself on his successful term as CEO and limit his
pleasure to that.
Brunett... also had to develop skills as an executive to manage the
financial and other crises that the archdiocese has encountered since he
took over in 1997. The most trying ordeal has been coping with the fallout
from cases of sexual abuse by priests...
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/09/29/story14.html