William Levada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Church positions | |
| See | San Francisco (Emeritus) |
| Title | Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith |
| Period in office | May 13, 2005—present |
| Raised to cardinalate | March 24, 2006 |
| Predecessor | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger |
| Successor | incumbent |
| Previous post | Archbishop of San Francisco |
| Personal | |
| Date of birth | June 15, 1936 |
| Place of birth | Long Beach, California |
| Styles of William Joseph Cardinal Levada |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | San Francisco (emeritus) |
His Eminence William Joseph Cardinal Levada (born June 15, 1936) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Roman Curia, previously serving as Archbishop of Portland from 1986 to 1995 and Archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005. Levada was elevated to the cardinalate in 2006.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and clerical formation
William Joseph Levada was born in Long Beach, California to Joseph and Lorraine (née Nunez) Levada, both natives of Concord. He has an older sister, Dolores.
His great-grandparents came from Portugal and Ireland, and immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1860s. He grew up in Long Beach and Houston, Texas, attended St. Anthony High School and then St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, part of the Roman Catholic Archidiocese of Los Angeles.
From 1958 to 1961, Levada studied at the North American College and did his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 20, 1961 by Archbishop Martin O'Connor, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, in St. Peter's Basilica.
[edit] Priestly ministry
From 1961 until around 1966, Levada worked in parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, including St. Monica's Church in Santa Monica. He also taught high school and worked in college campus ministry.
After this, he returned to Rome and continued his studies at the North American College. He received a doctorate in sacred theology magna cum laude. His 1971 dissertation was written under Francis A. Sullivan, SJ. In the early 1970s, he returned to the United States and taught theology at St. John's Seminary School of Theology in Camarillo, California. During this time he was also named the first Director of Continuing Education for the Clergy in the archdiocese, and received the title Monsignor.
From 1976 to 1982, Levada was an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, having been recommended by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. During this time, he taught part-time at the Pontifical Gregorian University. At the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Levada served under three popes (Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, and Pope John Paul II), and under two prefects of the CDF (Franjo Cardinal Seper and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger).
In 1982, Archbishop Timothy Manning of Los Angeles named Levada as the Executive Director of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops in Sacramento.
[edit] Episcopal ministry
Levada was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and titular bishop of Capreae on 25 March 1983, and was consecrated by Cardinal Manning (with Bishops John Ward and Juan Arzube as co-consecrators) in the Cathedral of St. Vibiana on 12 May 1983. In 1984 he was appointed episcopal vicar of Santa Barbara County. In 1986 he was appointed chancellor and moderator of the archdiocesan curia. Serving under Roger Cardinal Mahony, Levada reorganized the internal structure of the archdiocese.
On 1 July 1986, Levada became the Archbishop of Portland. During his tenure in Portland, Levada help to revitalize Mount Angel Seminary; Levada briefly taught at the seminary as well. Other accomplishments in Portland included reorganizing Catholic Charities, working in outreach to the Hispanic Catholic community, and renovating St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
In 1987, Levada and six other bishops were chosen by Cardinal Ratzinger to edit the forthcoming Catechism of the Catholic Church. When the Catechism was completed in 1993, the first English translation was very loose and used a great deal of inclusive language. Along with Archbishop Eric D'Arcy of Hobart, Australia and Fr. John Wall, Levada insisted that this be replaced with a more literal translation, and it was a new and more literal translation that was published in English in 1994. Levada also authored the glossary for the second edition of the Catechism.
On 17 August 1995, Levada was appointed coadjutor archbishop of San Francisco, and on 27 December of the same year he succeeded John Raphael Quinn as the archbishop. Some of Levada's most famous actions as Archbishop of San Francisco involved in the issues surrounding gay rights. In 1997, the City of San Francisco passed a law that all companies must provide the same benefits for domestic partners as for their spouses. Levada objected that this violated Catholic teaching on the unique status of marriage, but the city would not budge. Levada's solution was seen as a compromise in some circles and a brilliant move in others: He ruled that unmarried employees of the archdiocese could designate any person sharing the same address as their beneficiary. This complied with the statute while avoiding a privileged status for unmarried domestic partnerships. Levada also allowed a predominantly gay and lesbian parish in the Castro district, Most Holy Redeemer Church to remain active in the Archdiocese.
In November 2000, Levada was appointed one of the members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he again served under Cardinal Ratzinger. This was a part-time task which let him remain in California.
Also in 2000, Levada became the Bishop Co-Chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States. In November 2003, Levada was appointed as Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Doctrine. This was a three-year term, but he resigned in 2005 due to his new duties in Rome and was replaced by Arthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Paterson.
On 18 September 1998, he consecrated Monsignor John Wester to the episcopate as an auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco. In January 30, 2003, he consecrated Monsignor Ignatius C. Wang to the episcopate as his second auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco. Bishop Wang, a native of Beijing, is the first Chinese and first Asian Bishop to be ordained for a diocese in the United States.
Some critics have criticized how Levada handled priests who had committed sexual abuse in Portland and in San Francisco.[1] According to Catholics for a Free Choice, Levada "shielded a pedophile in the Diocese of Portland, Ore., for approximately nine years, which helped lead to the bankruptcy of the diocese and earned the wrath of survivor groups for his actions on the Vatican’s commission to revise the US bishops’ sex abuse norms. He has been criticized by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) for failing to remove priests accused of sexual abuse from active ministry and for keeping documents about those priests secret."[2] As President and Chancellor of Saint Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, Archbishop Levada has had to deal with the dismissal of his academic dean at the seminary after the dean's arrest in Santa Rosa on charges apparently related to child pornography and sexual abuse. [2]
Many Traditional Catholics were unhappy with Levada's refusal to allow Tridentine Masses to be celebrated in his Archdiocese.[3] Since his tenure in San Francisco and his move to Rome, Levada has been appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. This is the organ of the Holy See charged with both the regulating of the Sacraments celebrated according to the 1962 texts in Latin, as well as the reconciliation of Traditional Catholics and Society of St. Pius X to Rome.
[edit] Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
On May 13, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Levada to succeed him, the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
It was commonly speculated that the pope's reasons for choosing Levada may have included the fact that Levada had been a principal editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the fact that the two of them had worked together at the CDF in the past, and the pope's desire to have an American heading the CDF since one of its major roles today is to deal with the fallout from the sexual abuse scandal.
Levada resigned as Archbishop of San Francisco effective August 17, 2005, the tenth anniversary of the announcement of his appointment as coadjutor to San Francisco. One of his last official duties as metropolitan bishop was to serve as principal consecrator of Clarence Richard Silva as the new Bishop of Honolulu, since Honolulu is a suffragan diocese of the San Francisco ecclesiastical province. Levada was replaced in San Francisco as Archbishop by high school classmate George Niederauer
On 22 February 2006, Benedict XVI announced that Levada was to be elevated to the College of Cardinals, a nomination which was much foreseen, given his Curial position. On the following 24 March, Levada was named the Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Domnica.
In addition to his position as Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Levada is the president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission. Levada's other curial positions include membership in the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.[4]
[edit] Levada's views on theology and society
Cardinal Levada's views mostly reflect the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. However, with regard to certain disputed and controversial topics, the following quotes from Levada are pertinent.
On Catholic teachers who dissent from Catholic teachings:
Catholic theology does not recognize the right to dissent, if by that we mean adopting conclusions which are contrary to the clear teachings of the authoritative, noninfallible magisterium and which are presented to the public in such a way as to constitute equivalently an alternative personal magisterium.[5]
In his doctoral dissertation of 1970 in which Levada treated the question of the infallibility of specific moral norms of the natural law, he wrote:
"The human process of formulating moral norms is marked by an essential dependence upon the data of human experience.... The variabilities which marked the human process of its discovery and formulation made such particular applications inherently unsuited to be considered for infallible definition.... For such formulations must remain essentially open to modification and reformulation based upon moral values as they are perceived in relation to the data and the experience which mark man's understanding of himself.... Even though there is nothing to prevent a council or a pope from extending [infallibility] to questions of the natural moral law from the point of view of their authority to do so, nevertheless the "prudential" certitude which characterizes the non-scriptural norms of the natural law argues against such an extension...."[6]
In March of 1995, Pope John Paul II, however explicitly confirmed that the Church's teachings against murder (par. 57), abortion (par. 62), and euthanasia (par. 65) were, in fact, specific moral norms which the Church's ordinary and universal Magisterium had protected with infallibility.
Within 68 days, Levada publicly stated, in contrast to the conclusion he reached in 1970, that the Catholic Church's teaching regarding the immorality of directly-willed abortion had been infallibly taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium:
The individual politician, like any Catholic, who is at odds with the teaching of the Church about the principle involved, i.e., that abortion constitutes the killing of innocent human life and is always gravely immoral (cf. Evangelium Vitae, nn. 57-62), has an obligation to reflect more deeply on the issue, in the hope of allowing the persuasive character of this infallibly taught teaching to become part of his belief and value system. I say infallibly taught not because Pope John Paul II has assumed in Evangelium Vitae the special prerogative recognized for individual papal teachings in the First Vatican Council, but rather because he has called attention explicitly to the fact that Catholic teaching on abortion has been an infallible doctrine of the Church by virtue of the universal ordinary Magisterium, recognized for the teachings of the Pope and worldwide college of bishops together by the Second Vatican Council.[7]
Thus it appears, after analysis, that within 68 days of Pope John Paul II having promulgated Evangelium Vitae, Levada felt compelled to alter his opinion.
However, little known to those outside the Roman Curia, in his earlier days as a budding theologian, Levada even held and wrote that the exact meaning of fornication was unclear in Sacred Scripture.[citation needed] This particular thesis has never been publicly retracted.[citation needed]
Addressing the issue of homosexual activity, Levada led a march of approximately 1,000 people through the streets of San Francisco in April of 2005 to protest gay marriage. For his denunciation of same-sex marriage, Levada has been criticized by LGBT associations. He wrote in 2004:
Heterosexual marriage, procreation and the nurturing of children form the bedrock of the family, and the family unit lies at the heart of every society. To extend the meaning of marriage beyond a union of a man and a woman, their procreative capacity, and their establishment of family represents a misguided understanding of marriage.
On Catholic politicians:
A Catholic, to be in full communion with the faith of the Church, must accept this teaching about the evil of abortion and euthanasia.
On Islam:
If both Islam and Christianity view themselves as universal and missionary, it does not mean an impasse but an opportunity to search further into the mystery of that faith to see how it resonates and relates to the other's faith.
[edit] Significance of Levada's role
As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Levada is the principal defender of all the moral and theological doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, sometimes acting as chief prosecutor against members of the Church who have strayed from those values. As the most influential position in the government of the Church apart from the Holy Father himself, Levada is considered the highest ranking American in the institution.
Other Americans heading dicasteries in the Roman Curia and associated institutions include James Francis Cardinal Stafford, Major Penitentiary; Archbishop James Harvey, Prefect of the Pontifical Household and Archbishop John Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
[edit] Episcopal Succession
| Episcopal Lineage | |
| Consecrated by: | Timothy Cardinal Manning |
| Date of consecration: | May 23, 1983 |
| Consecrator of | |
|---|---|
| Bishop | Date of consecration |
| Tod David Brown | April 3, 1989 |
| Alexander Joseph Brunett | July 6, 1994 |
| John Charles Wester | September 18, 1998 |
| Joseph Anthony Pepe | May 31, 2001 |
| Ignatius Chung Wang | January 30, 2003 |
| Clarence Richard Silva | July 21, 2005 |
[edit] Sources
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.pope-watch.org/first100daysreport.pdf
- ^ See San Francisco Faith, March 1999.
- ^ "Levada, Card. William Joseph", College of Cardinals Biographical Notes, Holy See Press Office, url accessed March 18, 2007
- ^ "Dissent and the Catholic Religion Teacher", Speech to National Catholic Educational Association, April 2, 1986. Printed in Origins, v. 16 (1986), pp. 195-200. Reprinted in Readings in Moral Theology No. 6: Dissent in the Church, ed. by Charles Curran and Richard McCormick, Paulist Press, 1988, pp. 133-151, ISBN 0-8091-2930-2.
- ^ (Doctoral dissertation, Infallible Church Magisterium and the Natural Law, 1971)
- ^ From The Catholic Sentinel, 6/2/1995.
[edit] Additional sources
- Statement of Levada on his appointment as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (May 13, 2005)
- Profile of Levada in the San Francisco Chronicle (May 14, 2005)
- Most Holy Redeemer Parish (May 17, 2005)
| Preceded by Cornelius Michael Power |
Archbishop of Portland 1986–1995 |
Succeeded by Francis Cardinal George, OMI |
| Preceded by John Raphael Quinn |
Archbishop of San Francisco 1995–2005 |
Succeeded by George Hugh Niederauer |
| Preceded by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger |
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 2005 – present |
Incumbent |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | Roman Catholic Archbishops of San Francisco | American cardinals | People from Long Beach, California | People from San Francisco | Irish-American religious figures | Portuguese-Americans | 1936 births | Living people
