Cardinal Wuerl is mentioned throughout the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report as helping to cover up the predatory behavior of priests and indeed to help them go parish to parish. This week he made numerous comments defending himself that are contradicted in the report.
2/ Father Richard Zula and Father George Zirwas of the Pittsburgh diocese were in a group of priests who, the grand jury found, "manufactured child pornography" and "used whips, violence and sadism in raping their victims."
3/In 1988, Zula was arrested and charged with over 130 counts related to child sex abuse. In 1989, Wuerl authorized a $900,000 confidential settlement between the diocese and the family of two of Zula's victims that included a hush agreement.
4/ The diocese under Wuerl's leadership also hired a doctor who worked with Zula in an attempt to lessen his sentence with a statement that the grand jury found "blamed the child victim rather than the adult criminal.” The diocese also helped Zula get early release from prison.
5/ Wuerl recently denied that he helped move priests around parish to parish quietly. He refuted having done so, saying, "that wasn't, that wasn't our process."
It was absolutely the process with Father George Zirwas.
It was absolutely the process with Father George Zirwas.
6/ The diocese of Pittsburgh, where Wuerl started as Bishop in 1988, "was aware of complaints against Zirwas for sexually abusing children as early as 1987" and continued to receive "additional complaints" between 1987 and 1995, according to the grand jury report.
7/ This includes complaints in 1988 and 1991 while Wuerl was bishop of the diocese. The grand jury found, in contradiction to Wuerl’s claims, that "Zirwas continued to function as a priest during this period and was reassigned to several parishes."
8/ Wuerl told CBS that when “there were allegations, we dealt with them immediately."
Not true.
The predatory behavior of Father Ernest Paone dated back to the 1960s and he was shuffled from parish to parish all over the country for decades, according to the grand jury report.
Not true.
The predatory behavior of Father Ernest Paone dated back to the 1960s and he was shuffled from parish to parish all over the country for decades, according to the grand jury report.
9/ In 1991, Wuerl approved moving him to the diocese of Reno-Las Vegas, even though according to the report, the Pittsburgh diocese knew of Paone's past. And in 1996, Wuerl refrained from sharing everything the church knew about Paone's past with the diocese of San Diego.
10/ In August 1994, Wuerl was sent a confidential memo notifying him of a new complaint against Paone. "Wuerl responded by dispatching letters notifying the relevant California and Nevada Dioceses of the 1994 complaint," the report states.
BUT...
BUT...
11/ ...the report adds, "However, Wuerl did not report the more detailed information contained within Diocesan records. The Diocese did not recall Paone; nor did it suspend his faculties as a priest. To the contrary, Paone continued to have the support of the Diocese."
12/ Wuerl’s defenders note that he had disciplined some priests, pushed back against an attempt by the Vatican to reinstate a predator priest, and that he wrote to the Vatican that parishioners had a right to know if their priests had been accused of predatory behavior.
13/ Grand jury: “In spite of Wuerl's statements to the Vatican, the clear and present threat that Paone posed to children was hidden and kept secret from parishioners in three states. Wuerl's statements had been meaningless without any action." -end-
