Word: archbishop
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...elements in the confrontation were present last week in a tense meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. The differences were embodied in a dispute that occupied much of the convocation: the ecclesiastical troubles of Seattle's Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, 65, who earlier this year was stripped of some of his authority by Rome because of his tolerant outlook on homosexuality and other controversial subjects...
...Hunthausen case, a paradigm of such public controversy, erupted in September when the Archbishop revealed that Rome had quietly taken away his control over various aspects of doctrine and discipline and handed it to Seattle's newly named auxiliary bishop, Donald Wuerl, a loyal conservative. Hunthausen's revelation provoked public squabbling among the bishops and demands by liberals that the U.S. hierarchy fight back...
...bishops devoted nearly six hours of closed-door discussions to the affair. At the start, the Archbishop's colleagues gave him a long ovation -- but only three minutes on the floor to reply to Laghi's account. Hunthausen then handed out a lengthy statement, protesting that under the Vatican's secretive procedures he was never given the opportunity to answer any of the specific accusations and that some of the shortcomings had long since been remedied and other charges made against him were inaccurate...
...Archbishop freely admitted other points in Rome's indictment, including the charge that he allowed Dignity, a group of Catholic homosexuals, to celebrate Mass in his cathedral. But he pointed out that "many bishops" had permitted similar services. (Only three weeks ago, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a tough statement, insisted bishops avoid recognition of Catholic groups that implicitly treat homosexuality as benign or oppose church teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful...
...Seattle and said its procedures properly protect both individual rights and the good of the church. Indeed, the bishops declared that they "affirm unreservedly their loyalty to and unity with the Holy Father." Hunthausen's allies managed one triumph: deletion of the assertion that Vatican treatment of the Archbishop of Seattle was "just and reasonable." The bishops also offered their future "assistance" to all parties...