At funeral Mass for former Archbishop Weakland, some pray for forgiveness while others slam legacy of abuse coverup
People enter the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist for the funeral of former Archbishop Rembert Weakland Tuesday in downtown Milwaukee. Milwaukee Archdiocese officials did not allow news reporters or cameras to enter the cathedral. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Sophie Carson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Published August 31, 2022
The funeral Mass for former Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland drew hundreds of supporters Tuesday, including those who said they were praying for forgiveness and mercy for the man who led the Milwaukee archdiocese for 25 years.
The Mass also drew advocates for survivors of clergy abuse. They said Weakland did not deserve a public funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist because he helped cover up sexual abuse in the church.
Weakland, a Benedictine monk, died Aug. 22, about 20 years after he stepped down as archbishop following a public fall from grace.
The Vatican granted his retirement promptly after he admitted he had used $450,000 in church funds to buy the silence of a former graduate student who years later accused him publicly of date rape.
Weakland maintained the relationship was consensual. The archbishop was in his early 50s and the accuser was in his early 30s when the encounter occurred.
Then, in 2008, Weakland admitted in a state court deposition that he shredded copies of sex abuse documents, failed to notify law enforcement officials and moved sexually abusive priests from parish to parish without warning members of their histories.
The Rev. Steven Avella — a Marquette University professor and historian — gave the homily and Archbishop Jerome Listecki presided over the Mass. It drew about 400 people, including large numbers of priests and Catholic sisters.
In his homily, Avella referenced Weakland's history.
"Hanging over this particular funeral are the memories of his mistakes, which were there for everyone to see. Some were personal to him, others shared by his fellow bishops and priests. We are grateful for the time he spent with us.
"Many of us loved him, and some did not. We can not dismiss their just anger even as we try to make sense of it all. People were hurt, lives shattered and disillusioned," he said.
His remarks continued:
"With the perks and power of leadership comes the burden of accountability for serious mistakes. For us here in Milwaukee, these things still need to work themselves out. Grief and anger have no time table. Neither do forgiveness and reconciliation."
The assembly broke into applause when Avella finished his homily.
Just three hours before the Mass was set to begin, archdiocese officials barred news reporters from attending the Mass. On Monday, they had said reporters would be allowed.
"In an effort to reduce the additional pain that sexual abuse survivors may experience from exposure to the current level of media publicity, we’re making a change and the funeral Mass will be closed to the media," said Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Listecki.
Then, the Mass was livestreamed on the cathedral's YouTube page.
Peter Isely of the advocacy group Nate’s Mission said he would have liked reporters to attend the funeral. He said he wasn’t consulted by the archdiocese on what survivors would prefer.
John Pilmaier, an advocate for survivors, said Weakland should be remembered for "the harm he caused."
“This is really a day of shame for the archbishop and the archdiocese,” he said.
More:Anti-clergy abuse advocates slam public funeral at cathedral for former Archbishop Weakland
'Not going to cast any stones'
Few who attended Weakland's visitation wanted to speak publicly to a reporter. But those who did said they believe it is important to forgive people.
"He's done his penance, he's suffered long years. That doesn't condone the sin. It does ask for forgiveness. And that's what we're supposed to be about," said Michaelina Young, before walking away.
A woman who only gave her first name, Diane, said she was "not going to cast any stones."
"God is more kind, loving and merciful than us human beings," she said. "It's too bad as human beings we can't be more kind to each other, and loving and have mercy, and forgiving."
Others remembered Weakland as a kind man who supported outcast groups.
Weakland reached "out to all of those people who were most vulnerable, women, gay Catholics, in a personal way," an Illinois man said. "So that they felt included, cared for and valued."
Four priests make their way into the public funeral for former Archbishop Rembert Weakland on Tuesday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Downtown Milwaukee (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
The man, who asked not to be named, is gay himself and said Weakland cared for his family.
The man also said he didn't want to dismiss those victimized by the church, but he respected that Weakland had acknowledged his actions.
"He took responsibility for those decisions and he did so very publicly," he said.
Judith Gregor, a lay associate with the School Sisters of Notre Dame, said she respected Weakland’s pastoral letter, "Eucharist Without Walls," about bringing Christ into daily life.
She also said she is praying for everyone’s mercy and that “we do a better job.”
“I’m praying for mercy that we build up each other, and develop healthy relationships and learn how to better understand each other and love each other,” she said.
Dozens of priests, religious sisters in attendance
Among those entering the cathedral ahead of Mass were dozens of Catholic sisters and priests. Many of the priests were dressed in black and held white robes to concelebrate with Listecki.
Most walked in quickly past television cameras and survivor advocates, who had set up displays and signs outside the cathedral in protest. Security guards were stationed outside the cathedral doors.
The group Nate's Mission tied to a fence photos of 80 abusive priests under Weakland's tenure. Organizers also displayed photos of survivors as children and some of their personal items, such as candles and prayer books.
James Egan, a former Milwaukee seminarian who now heads an Illinois-based survivor advocacy group, said he felt sad to see old classmates and priests he knew walk into the cathedral.
“It really shows their character,” Egan said. “It shows their lack of commitment, really, to keeping children safe, and that they are looking the other way. They’re not being of service, they’re not being neighbors.”
During the Mass, a prayer of intercession was offered for survivors of child sexual abuse.
For those with painful memories of clergy abuse: "May God heal their wounds, free their hearts from fear and indignation, and open ways for them to grow and live life fully. And may all of us be instruments of healing as we promise to protect and pledge to heal those who are most vulnerable, we pray, Lord hear our prayer."
Peter Isely of the anti-clergy abuse group Nate’s Mission, takes a moment to look over the survivors’ memorial which displayed photos, candles, prayer books, and more outside of the public funeral for former Archbishop Rembert Weakland Tuesday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Milwaukee. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
A woman who lives close to the cathedral and who asked to be referred to only by her first name, Mary, said she knew several of the abusive priests whose photos advocates hung on a fence outside the cathedral.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” she said.
As she observed from the sidewalk, she noted that former archdiocesan lawyer Matthew Flynn arrived. She also watched as an older woman shouted at survivor advocates, “Just give it a rest.” The woman also gave a rude gesture to a man standing silently on the sidewalk with a sign that read, “What about survivors?”
The man with the sign was Chris O’Leary, a St. Louis resident and priest abuse survivor, who drove to Milwaukee Tuesday morning. He stood for four hours with his sign outside the cathedral.
He said he was not protesting, but holding vigil. He wants lay Catholics to "understand that the problems still exist, and the magnitude of the problem." He wants them to take a more active role in rooting out complacency to abuse.
"I think nothing is going to change if the pressure stops. The laity have to keep on the pressure," O'Leary said.
He said one of the priests walking into the funeral stopped to tell him, “I’m not forgetting survivors. But I also think it’s important to remember and pray for mercy.”
Chris O’Leary drove from St. Louis, MO. to hold this sign outside the public funeral for former archbishop Rembert Weakland Tuesday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Legacy as liberal bishop followed by scandal
Long considered one of America's most prominent liberal bishops, Weakland's legacy could be seen in his own funeral.
He had a hand in shaping the modern-day liturgy during Vatican II in the 1960s and led the controversial renovation of the cathedral in the early 2000s.
He began his adult life at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he professed as a monk and went on to lead as archabbot.
In 1967, at the age of 40, he was elected abbot primate for the Benedictine Confederation — the body that oversees all Benedictine congregations and monasteries worldwide — and became close to Pope Paul VI.
Weakland later wrote that during the Vatican II process, he participated in what were effectively test Masses with Pope Paul to practice the new liturgy, reimagined from the Latin version.
Then, he said, he was part of a small group that offered the pope feedback in his offices.
The Mass as it was celebrated at Tuesday's funeral was a product of that Vatican II process.
As Milwaukee archbishop, a position he began in 1977, Weakland was a divisive figure. He championed an expanded role for women and laity in the church and thought the door should be left open to ordaining women.
Three priests make their way into the public funeral for Archbishop Rembert Weakland on Tuesday, August 30th, 2022 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Milwaukee. A security guard was posted outside the cathedral door. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
He also was known for building bridges with other religions and reaching out to Catholics who felt disconnected from their church. He helped found and fund the Milwaukee AIDS Project. He conducted highly publicized listening sessions in an effort to understand Catholic women's views on abortion.
Near the end of his tenure, Weakland shepherded a radical remodeling of the interior of the cathedral to modernize and reconfigure it.
Rows of pews were replaced by movable chairs, the altar was moved forward into the nave and the tabernacle was relocated to a side chapel.
Traditionalist Catholics criticized the renovation, saying it made the cathedral uglier and more "Protestant." But others hailed it as an upgrade that aligned with a post-Vatican II movement to connect clergy and lay people.
Weakland submitted retirement paperwork when he turned 75 in 2002, as required by church law, but continued serving. The following month, news broke that he had paid $450,000 to buy the silence of the former graduate student who had accused him of sexual assault.
The pope granted his retirement the next day.
He initially said he had raised enough money in speaking fees, gifts and honorariums over 25 years to more than equal the $450,000 settlement, but he later acknowledged he'd made only about $200,000 and the rest came from archdiocese funds.
Supporters quickly raised over $300,000 to cover the difference, and federal authorities said they wouldn't charge him over the use of donors' money.
Weakland was living in a south-side senior living facility when in 2008 he spoke in a deposition about his handling of sex abuse cases within the archdiocese.
He acknowledged that he moved abusive priests to other parishes without warning members because "no parish would have accepted a priest unless you could say that he has gone through the kind of psychological examination and that he’s not a risk to the parish."
He would come out as gay — possibly the first Catholic bishop to voluntarily do so — in his 2009 memoir “A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church."
Then, in 2019, in response to pressure from church abuse victims and faithful, the archdiocese removed Weakland's name from the pastoral center at the cathedral as well as a sculpture inside depicting Weakland shepherding small children.
In remarks at the Mass, Listecki said Catholics can find peace in God's forgiveness.
"We know that in 25 years in shepherding — I know in the past decade of my own shepherding — you make mistakes. Mistakes are made, errors are made, judgements are made.
"But we do so in the shadow of the cross, and we hold that cross before us because in that cross always is God’s loving forgiveness and mercy."
Contact Sophie Carson at (414) 223-5512 or scarson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SCarson_News.