Me, Talking Back to National Catholic Reporter and Michael Sean Winters re: Resignation of Donald Wuerl

Wuerl hounded from office for becoming face of abuse crisis https://t.co/N2pHeSpgcP via @ncronline

"He has been for 30 years a force of nature in the Catholic Church in this country, a workhorse for the conference and for the Vatican and for the dioceses he served." /1

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) October 12, 2018

Now This: Wuerl Withdraws from World Meeting of Families

Now there's this: as Patsy McGarry reported several hours ago, Cardinal Wuerl has withdrawn from the World Meeting of Families:

A Cardinal who was heavily criticised for his handling of child sexual abuse allegations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin next week, it has been confirmed. 

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, was due to give the keynote address, entitled “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World,” in the RDS at 2.30pm next Wednesday. 

No reason has been provided for the decision.

On criticisms of Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International Ireland of plans for Wuerl to offer a keynote address on families, see my posting earlier today. 

Colm O'Gorman on Wuerl as Keynote Speaker in World Meeting of Families: Will Speak on "Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World"

Read this. This man reappointed known serial child abusers to ministry. Cardinal Wuerl will give the keynote address in the RDS at 2.30pm next Wednesday afternoon, on “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World”. #Stand4Truth https://t.co/5Lp14NqlAc

— Colm O'Gorman (@Colmogorman) August 18, 2018

Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, comments this morning on what the Pennsylvania report tells us about Cardinal Wuerl, and about Wuerl's upcoming address on the "welfare of the family" at the World meeting of Families. He also reminds us of who made Wuerl a cardinal — Benedict XVI, who had previously headed the CDF, to which all cases of clerical sexual abuse are required by church law to be reported. So that Benedict had full knowledge of what Wuerl had covered up when he made Wuerl a cardinal:

More Initial Impressions of Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report: "They Hid It All"

More first impressions:

Initial Impressions of Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report: "They Hid It All"

I have not yet read the Pennsylvania grand jury report. I am reading news coverage now. Here are some initial top-of-the-head responses:

Michael Sean Winters on Bishops' Treatment of LGBT People: "Affirmation of the Dignity of Gays and Lesbians Is Usually More Rhetorical Than Real"

Several days ago, when I took note of National Catholic Reporter columnist Michael Sean Winters' soft selling of a statement by Cardinal Donald Wuerl defending the firing of LGBT employees of Catholic institutions who contravene magisterial norms, I zeroed in on the glaring gap between Catholic leaders' entirely rhetorical statements about "welcoming" LGBT people, and how those same leaders actually treat LGBT people. I wrote,

New Ways Ministry on Catholics Responding to Anti-Gay "Religious Freedom" Laws: Bishops Continue Advocating for "Right to Discriminate" Laws

At the New Ways Ministry blog, Bondings 2.0, today, Bob Shine summarizes various Catholic responses to the anti-gay "religious freedom" laws in Indiana and Arkansas: