American cardinal (born 1940)
 
Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Washington from 2006 to 2018. He previously served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle (1986 to 1987) and Bishop of Pittsburgh (1988 to 2006). Pope Benedict XVI made him a cardinal in 2010.
Wuerl is widely viewed as a theological moderate, and is well known in the church for his ability to forge consensus between different factions. Questions arose in 2018 of whether Wuerl had adequately dealt with allegations of sexual abuse against clergy under his jurisdiction. A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report criticized how he handled sexual abuse cases during his time as bishop in Pittsburgh. Wuerl has denied mishandling the cases.
There were additional accusations that Wuerl, despite initially denying it, was aware of sexual abuse accusations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, his predecessor in Washington. On October 12, 2018, Pope Francis accepted Wuerl's resignation as Archbishop of Washington. Wuerl remained in charge of the archdiocese as its apostolic administrator until Francis appointed his successor, Wilton Daniel Gregory, in 2019.
Early life and education.
Donald Wuerl was born on November 12, 1940, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the second of four children of Francis and Mary Anna (née Schiffauer) Wuerl. He has two brothers, Wayne and Dennis, and a sister, Carol. Wuerl's father worked nights weighing freight cars for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and served in the US Navy during World War II. His mother died in 1944 and his father married Kathryn Cavanaugh in 1946. Donald Wuerl expressed an interest in becoming a priest early in life. He even held pretend masses for his brothers and sisters at home.
Wuerl received his early education at the parochial school of St. Mary of the Mount Parish in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1958. He attended St. Gregory Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, for his freshman and sophomore years of college from September 1958 through May 1960. He then attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he was a Basselin Scholar at the Theological College. Wuerl earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1962 and a master's degree in 1963.
Wuerl continued his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He earned a Master of Theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1967. While a student in Rome, Wuerl was able to observe the proceedings of the Second Vatican Council.
Early career.
Wuerl was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh on December 17, 1966, by Bishop Francis Frederick Reh. After his ordination, Wuerl was assigned as assistant pastor at St. Rosalia Parish in Pittsburgh's Greenfield neighborhood and as priest-secretary to Bishop John Wright.
After Wright was elevated to cardinal in 1969, Wuerl became his full-time priest-secretary in Vatican City from 1969 until Wright's death in 1979. While in Rome. Wuerl attended the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas "Angelicum" where he obtained a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree in 1974.
Because Wright was recovering from surgery and confined to a wheelchair, Wuerl, as Wright's priest-secretary, was one of three non-cardinals permitted inside the conclave that selected Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II in 1978. (Wright had missed the first of the two 1978 conclaves.)
In 1976, Wuerl co-wrote with Thomas Comerford Lawler and Ronald David Lawler a catechism for adults, "The Teaching of Christ." It has been reprinted several times and has been widely translated.
Wuerl served as rector at Saint Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh from 1981 to 1985. In 1982, he was appointed executive secretary to Bishop John Aloysius Marshall of Burlington, Vermont, who was leading a Vatican-mandated study of US seminaries.
Episcopal career.
Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle.
On December 3, 1985, Wuerl was appointed titular bishop of Rosemarkie and as an auxiliary bishop of Seattle by Pope John Paul II. Wuerl was consecrated bishop on January 6, 1986, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by the pope.
As auxiliary bishop, Wuerl and Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen worked in adjoining offices without conflict for several months. However, in May 1986, the two men found themselves with opposing positions on proposed state legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment. At that point, Hunthausen learned for the first time that the Vatican had charged Wuerl with responsibility — "complete and final decision-making power" — for several key areas normally within the Archbishop's control:
Hunthausen revealed the division of authority between him and Wuerl in September 1986. While some chancery officials expressed support for Wuerl, some questioned his role and saw little impact on the archdiocese a year after his appointment. In November, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed its objections to the Vatican's restrictions on Hunthausen.
In February 1987, the Vatican formed a commission of US bishops, headed by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, to investigate the situation between Wuerl and Hunthausen in Seattle. Wuerl met privately with John Paul II, but declined to comment on the meeting, saying "I'm just going to wait and see what the commission does". In May 1987, following the commission review, John Paul II restored Hunthausen's full authority as bishop and appointed then Bishop Thomas Joseph Murphy as coadjutor bishop to assist him.
Wuerl resigned as auxiliary bishop of Seattle on May 26, 1987. He later said that remaining in Seattle became "unworkable", with many parishioners blaming him for the conflict with Hunthausen. Wuerl moved to a Pittsburgh suburb to await his next appointment by the Vatican. Wuerl and Hunthausen eventually became friends, with Wuerl saying that Hunthausen taught him a great deal about the work of being a bishop.
Bishop of Pittsburgh.
Wuerl was appointed as the eleventh bishop of Pittsburgh on February 12, 1988, by John Paul II. He was installed on March 25, 1988. One of the biggest problems facing the diocese was the financial losses of its parish schools. The diocese had built many parishes during the era when Catholic immigrants were swelling the population of Pittsburgh to work in the steel mills. It established the parishes along ethnic lines so that parishioners could attend services in their native languages and maintain their national traditions. This resulted in the diocese having as many as eight parishes within blocks of each other. After World War II, the diocese made a major effort to build a school for every parish. These schools were usually staffed by nuns who were given nominal compensation.
The economics of the Pittsburgh Catholic schools began to break down in the 1970s. First, the Baby Boom period had subsided, resulting in a reduction in the student population. Second, Catholics became less likely to send their children to Catholic schools. Third, in response to the Second Vatican Council, many sisters began choosing missions unrelated to education. To replace these nuns in schools, the diocese had to hire more lay teachers with higher salaries.
Wuerl asked his committee of lay advisors to address the debt and deficit spending associated with Catholic education in Pittsburgh. In 1988, the committee determined that 48 of 333 parishes owed a total of $5.6 million. The diocese announced a rescue plan in February 1989, with the diocese forgiving $1.1 million loaned to the parishes for insurance along with the Parish Share Program. In addition, the diocese promised low-interest loans to parishes to refinance their other obligations. Despite the financial condition of the diocese, Wuerl decided to expand its health services. He worked with hospitals and community groups to create a group home for people with HIV/AIDS. In 2003, Wuerl conducted a $2.5 million fundraising campaign to create the Catholic Charities Free Health Care Center, serving the uninsured working poor.
In 1989, Wuerl merged Sacred Heart and St. Paul Cathedral High Schools to establish Oakland Catholic High School, using the St. Paul building in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh .
Wuerl launched and hosted a television program, "The Teaching of Christ", in 1990. He taught at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh as a distinguished service professor. Wuerl in 1999 became a chaplain for the Order of Malta, Federal Association USA, attached to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Wuerl also wrote regular columns in "Columbia", the major publication of the Knights of Columbus in the United States.
In March 1994, Wuerl closed 73 diocesan buildings, including 37 churches, and reduced the number of parishes from 331 to 117 through mergers. The diocese was operating 214 parishes when Wuerl left in June 2006 to become archbishop of Washington. Wuerl's plan, "The Parish Reorganization and Revitalization Project", was used as a model for other dioceses seeking parish suppression.
From 1994 until 2003, as bishop of Pittsburgh, Wuerl served as a member of the board of governors of the Pontifical North American College in Rome (chair, 1998 to 1999), representing the Pennsylvania-New Jersey Region (Region III) of the USCCB. In 2008, as archbishop of Washington he was again elected to the college's board of governors, this time representing the Washington DC-Delaware-Maryland-Virginia-West Virginia region of the conference (Region IV).
Under Wuerl, the diocese began to emphasize placing women into positions of responsibility and authority.
Archbishop of Washington.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Wuerl as archbishop of Washington on May 16, 2006. He was installed on June 22, 2006, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. and received the pallium from Pope Benedict XVI on June 29, 2006. In April 2008, Wuerl hosted the apostolic visit of Benedict XVI to the District of Columbia.
Wuerl served as chair of the board of directors of the National Catholic Educational Association starting on December 12, 2005, and was also chancellor of The Catholic University of America. In September 2010, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith named Wuerl as its delegate in the United States for facilitating the implementation of the apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum coetibus." The constitution was issued by Benedict XVI in November 2009 for Anglicans who wished to convert to Catholicism. Wuerl also headed the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) "ad hoc" committee to support that implementation.
Cardinal.
On November 20, 2010, Benedict XVI elevated Wuerl to the College of Cardinals in a public consistory held at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. He was created Cardinal-Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli. Benedict XVI later appointed Wuerl to the following posts:
In 2011, Wuerl served on a committee of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that criticized the American Catholic theologian Elizabeth Johnson. The bishops stated that her popular 2007 book, "Quest for the Living God," contravened Catholic doctrine in several areas. The committee itself faced criticism for not following accepted protocols for dealing with conflicts with theologians. Wuerl later stated that he had offered to meet with Johnson regarding the book, but she did not respond to his invitations.
Wuerl was a cardinal elector who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. Francis appointed Wuerl to the Congregation for Bishops (December 16, 2013).
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Wuerl is said to have worked as a consensus builder on ideological conflicts over issues such as liturgical translation and communion for politicians favoring abortion rights for women during the 1990s and 2000s. Wuerl was a supporter of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People by the USCCB. The charter required that any clergyman who sexually abuses a child never again serve in ministry.
Public positions.
Reverend Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and journalist, said in 2006 that "[Wuerl is] quite orthodox theologically, but he doesn't like to play cop; he's not an authoritarian person." In August 2018, Reese described him as an ideological moderate with regard to Catholic theological disputes, stating, "He's not an old leftie, he's not a right-wing culture warrior. ... He was totally enthusiastic about John Paul II, and then Pope Benedict, and now he's totally enthusiastic about Pope Francis. There are not many people in the church who are totally enthusiastic about all three of them."
Journalist John L. Allen Jr. in December 2018 said that Wuerl "was able to forge behind-the-scenes consensus because he was trusted by virtually all parties as someone who wouldn't embarrass them in public, and because he was seen as at least somewhat sympathetic to their points of view."
Religion and politics.
In cases where politicians and officeholders take policy positions that clash with church doctrine, Wuerl said the decision to offer communion should be made case-by-case: "Our primary job is to teach and try to convince people. The tradition in