Rembert Weakland

The Most Reverend Rembert George Weakland O.S.B.
Archbishop Emeritus of Milwaukee
See	Milwaukee
Installed	November 8, 1977
Term ended	May 24, 2002
Predecessor	William Edward Cousins †
Successor	Timothy Dolan
Other posts	Abbot Primate of Benedictine Confederation (1967–1977)
Orders
Ordination	June 24, 1951
Consecration	November 8, 1977
Personal details
Born	(1927-04-02) April 2, 1927 Patton, Pennsylvania
Nationality	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Parents	Basil and Mary (née Kane) Weakland
Alma mater	St. Vincent College St. Vincent Seminary International Benedictine College Juilliard School Columbia University

Rembert George Weakland (born April 2, 1927) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002. He is the author of A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop, which explores Church reform issues and the child abuse crisis.

Life

Weakland was born in Patton, Pennsylvania, to Basil (1897–1932) and Mary (née Kane, 1898–1978) Weakland.^[1] One of six children, he has four sisters, Leora, Elizabeth, Barbara, and Marian; and one brother, William. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Patton, and then studied at St. Vincent College and St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe.^[1]

Priesthood

In 1945, he entered the novitiate of the Order of St. Benedict, more commonly known as the Benedictines, at St. Vincent Archabbey. Taking the name Rembert, he made his solemn profession as a Benedictine monk on September 29, 1949, at Solesmes Abbey in France.^[1] He studied theology at the International Benedictine College in Rome.^[1]

On June 24, 1951, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Simone Salvi, O.S.B., in Subiaco, Italy.^[2] He furthered his studies in music in Italy, France, and Germany, as well as at both the Juilliard School and Columbia University in New York. From 1957 to 1963, he taught music at his alma mater of St. Vincent College.^[1]

Weakland was elected Coadjutor Archabbot of St. Vincent Archabbey on June 26, 1963, and received the Solemn Blessing of an Archabbot from Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on August 29, 1963. Following this, he became the Chancellor and Chairman of the Board of Directors of St. Vincent College. On May 8, 1964, he received a papal appointment as Consultor to the Commission for Implementing the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council and was appointed a Member of that Commission in 1968.

He was elevated to abbot primate of the Benedictine Confederation on September 29, 1967, a position he held until 1977. At this time he became Chancellor of the International Benedictine College of Sant'Anselmo, Rome, Italy. He was reelected to a second term as Abbot Primate in September 1973. He served as a member of the Council of Superiors General from 1968 until 1977. In 1968, Weakland administered Last Rites to the body of Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton in Thailand, whose body was flown back to Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky, where Merton is buried.^[3]

Archbishop of Milwaukee

On September 20, 1977, Pope Paul VI appointed Weakland Archbishop of Milwaukee. He was consecrated bishop on November 8, in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist by Archbishop Jean Jadot.^[4]

On December 21, 1999, he defended and received a Ph.D. in Musicology – "with distinction" – from Columbia University, New York, for his research and thesis on "The Office Antiphons of the Ambrosian Chant".

Weakland retired as Archbishop in 2002. In July 2009, he published his memoirs under the title of A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop dealing with the issues of ongoing Church reform.

Public controversies

Sexual abuse scandal

In 1984, Weakland responded to teachers in a Catholic school who were reporting sexual abuse by local priests by stating "any libellous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers." The Wisconsin Court of Appeals rebuked him for this, calling his remarks "abrupt" and "insensitive."^[5] In 1994, Weakland said those reporting sexual abuse were "squealing." He later apologized for the remarks.^[5]

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a deposition released in 2009 revealed that Weakland shredded reports about sexual abuse by priests.^[6] Weakland admitted allowing priests guilty of child sex abuse to continue as priests without warning parishioners or alerting the police. ^[7]

Weakland stated in his autobiography that in the early years of the sexual abuse scandal he did not understand that child sexual abuse was a crime.^[8]

In the mid-1980s, Weakland was involved in an intense controversy over a pastoral letter he authored that presented a very left-wing view of capitalism and drew a dissent by lay Catholics. This is especially germane in light of the recent statements by Pope Francis.

Liturgical agenda

In 1965–66, Weakland served as President of the Church Music Association of America. According to an account by Richard Schuler,^[9] a split emerged very quickly, with Weakland taking sharp exception to the "reactionary attitudes in liturgical thinking" that he said were present at the Consociato meeting. In interviews with the press, he expressed regret that the meeting failed to include modern music and dancing in its liturgical agenda. His views did not prevail within the CMAA, and so his presidency did not last.^[10]

Theological dissent

In 2000, Weakland was a critic of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's document Dominus Iesus on religious relativism.^[11]

Cathedral renovation

One of his last major actions as archbishop was effecting a controversial renovation of the historic Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee.

Sex scandal and retirement

Weakland retired on May 24, 2002 at the mandatory retirement age of 75. Weakland's retirement was overshadowed by revelations that he paid $450,000 of diocesan funds to a former male lover to prevent a lawsuit.^[12][13][14]

Weakland stepped down soon after Paul Marcoux, a former Marquette University theology student, revealed in May 2002 that he was paid $450,000 to settle a sexual assault claim he made against the archbishop more than two decades earlier. The money came from the archdiocese.^[7]

Marcoux's credibility as a witness is disputed and Weakland has denied sexually assaulting anyone. ^[7][15]

References

External links

• the Roman Catholic Archdiosese of Milwaukee's web page for Archbishop Weakland
• The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee's biography of Archbishop Weakland
• Works by or about Rembert Weakland in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by William Edward Cousins	Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977–2002	Succeeded by Timothy Michael Dolan

Authority control VIAF: 113345732 GND: 119217341

Persondata
Name	Weakland, Rembert George
Alternative names
Short description	American archbishop
Date of birth	April 2, 1927
Place of birth	Patton, Pennsylvania
Date of death
Place of death