Archbishop Rembert
Weakland, the former head of the Roman Catholic archdiocese in
Milwaukee who resigned in 2002 amid outcry that he covered up a
sexual abuse scandal involving another man, says that he is gay
in an upcoming book, reports the
Associated Press
.
Called
A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic
Archbishop,
the book describes his years of struggle with being gay, and
also discusses his role in returning priests guilty of sexual
abuse to active ministry. It will be released in June.
Weakland, a Benedictine
monk, led the Milwaukee archdiocese from 1977 to 2002 and
earned admiration from liberal Catholics for his work on social
justice issues. He stepped down after Paul Marcoux, a former
theology student at Marquette University, revealed that the
archdiocese paid him $450,000 to settle a sexual abuse claim he
made against the archbishop two decades earlier.
Weakland was replaced
by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the current Archbishop of New
York.
Weakland, 82, denied
that he ever assaulted Marcoux. He now lives in a retirement
community near Milwaukee and plans to move to Morristown, N.J.,
this summer.
He discussed his
motivation for writing the book in an interview with the
Associated Press.
"What I felt was
that people who loved me as bishop here, when they read the
book will continue to love me. The people who found it
difficult, I hope will be helped a little bit by the
book," he said.
The Archdiocese of
Milwaukee released a statement to prepare local Catholics for
the book's impending release. "Some people will be angry
about the book, others will support it," the statement
said.
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