Rembert George Samuel Weakland (April 2, 1927 – August 22, 2022) was an American
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
who served as
Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002. Shortly before his mandatory retirement at the age of 75, it was revealed in the press that Weakland had conducted a sexual relationship with a seminarian, Paul Marcoux, several decades before, and that the diocese had paid $450,000 to Marcoux to settle litigation stemming from Marcoux's characterization of the affair as
date rape
Date rape is a form of acquaintance rape and dating violence. The two phrases are often used interchangeably, but date rape specifically refers to a rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between ...
.
Early life
He was born George Samuel Weakland in
Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in Franc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, to Basil Weakland (1897–1932) and Mary Kane (1898–1978). He had four sisters, Leora, Elizabeth, Barbara, and Marian; and one brother, William. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Patton, and then enrolled at the
minor seminary
A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Catholic priests. They are generally Catholic institutions, and de ...
run by the
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monks of
Saint Vincent Archabbey
Saint Vincent Archabbey is a Benedictine monastery in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the city of Latrobe. A member of the American-Cassinese Congregation, it is the oldest Benedictine monastery in the United States and the largest in th ...
in
Latrobe.
Monastic life and priesthood
Following graduation in 1945, Weakland entered the
novitiate of the archabbey, taking the
religious name of Rembert. When he completed this initiation into monastic life on September 23 of the following year, he went on to study at
Saint Vincent College
Saint Vincent College is a private Benedictine college in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 by Boniface Wimmer, a monk from Bavaria, it is operated by the Benedictine monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey, the first Benedictine monastery in the ...
and
Saint Vincent Seminary
Saint Vincent Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Father Boniface Wimmer in 1846, who came from Saint Michael's Abbey in Metten, Bavaria, to establish Saint Vincent Archabbey as the first Benedictin ...
, also run by the archabbey. He made his solemn
profession
A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...
as a
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
on September 29, 1949, at
Solesmes Abbey
Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes (''Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes'') is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes (Sarthe, France), famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Guà ...
in France. He was then sent by the archabbot to study
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the
Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
[
On June 24, 1951, Weakland was ]ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
to the priesthood by Bishop Simone Salvi, O.S.B., Abbot of Subiaco Abbey
The Abbey of Saint Scholastica, also known as Subiaco Abbey (Italian: ''Abbazia di Santa Scolastica''), is located just outside the town of Subiaco in the Province of Rome, Region of Lazio, Italy; and is still an active Benedictine abbey, ter ...
in Italy. He furthered his studies in music in Italy, France, and Germany, as well as at both the Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
and Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. During this period, while doing research at the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, he discovered the text of a medieval liturgical drama, the ''Play of Daniel
The ''Play of Daniel'', or ''Ludus Danielis'', is either of two medieval Latin liturgical dramas based on the biblical Book of Daniel, one of which is accompanied by monophonic music.
The play itself dates from c. 1140. Two medieval plays of Dani ...
'', for which he released an authoritative text with commentary. It came to be frequently staged by musical groups, such as the New York Pro Musica
New York Pro Musica was a vocal and instrumental ensemble based in New York City, which specialized in Medieval and Renaissance music. It was co-founded in 1952, under the name Pro Musica Antiqua, by Noah Greenberg, a choral director, and Bernard ...
, which specialize in music from that era. From 1957 to 1963, he taught music at his '' alma mater'' of St. Vincent College.[
Weakland was elected Coadjutor Archabbot of St. Vincent Archabbey on June 26, 1963. He soon succeeded to the office and received the solemn blessing of an archabbot from the local bishop, William G. Connare of the Diocese of Greensburg, 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
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
and was appointed a member of that commission in 1968.
On September 29, 1967, Weakland was elected the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation, to which office he was later re-elected in 1973. During this period, he served as Chancellor '' ex officio'' of the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm. He also served as a member of the Vatican Council of Superiors General
A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of a religious institute in the Catholic Church and some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme executive authority in the religious community, while th ...
from 1968 until 1977. In 1968, Weakland presided over an international, inter-religious monastic conference near Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
, Thailand, at which the American Trappist
The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...
monk and writer, Thomas Merton, died. He administered the Last Rites
The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortall ...
of the Catholic Church to Merton and arranged for the body to be flown back on a U.S. military airplane to the United States.
Archbishop of Milwaukee
On September 20, 1977, Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
appointed Weakland the Archbishop of Milwaukee. He was consecrated on November 8, in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist by Archbishop Jean Jadot
Jean Jadot (23 November 1909 – 21 January 2009) was a Belgian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as apostolic delegate to the United States (the first non-Italian to do so) from 1973 to 1980, and President of the Secretariat for ...
, the Apostolic Delegate
An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international o ...
to the United States.[ One of his first actions was to sell the four bedroom suburban home where his predecessor had lived and move to the cathedral rectory.
His tenure was divisive due to his pronounced liberal views and liturgical experiments. While unapproachable for some and jarring in his coverups for abusive priests, he also sought to reach Catholics on the margins of church and society. He gave support for the Milwaukee AIDS Project. Amidst abortion controversies, Weakland participated in public "listening sessions," encouraging Catholic women to share their views on the issue.
On December 21, 1999, Weakland received a Doctorate in Musicology – "with distinction" – from ]Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, for his thesis on "The Office Antiphons of the Ambrosian Chant." He 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.
Illness and death
In his later years, Weakland was in poor health, being in hospice care in his condo in southwest Milwaukee. He died on August 22, 2022, at his residence in Greenfield, Wisconsin
Greenfield is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Milwaukee County, Greenfield is one of many bedroom communities in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 37,803 as of the 2020 Census.
History
On March 8, 1839, the ...
, following a long illness. A public Mass of Christian Burial was offered by Archbishop Listecki at the Milwaukee Cathedral on August 30, 2022, and Weakland's body was interred at the cemetery of St. Vincent Archabbey on September 1, 2022.
Public controversies
Sexual abuse scandal
In 1984, Weakland responded to teachers in a Catholic school who were reporting sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
by local priests by stating "any libelous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers." The Wisconsin Court of Appeals
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of app ...
rebuked him for this, calling his remarks "abrupt" and "insensitive".[Dave Umhoefer, "Scandal casts new light on Weakland's statements", '' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', May 26, 2002.] In 1994, Weakland said those reporting sexual abuse were "squealing". He later apologized for the remarks.
According to the '' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', a deposition released in 2009 revealed that Weakland shredded reports about sexual abuse by priests. Weakland admitted allowing priests guilty of child sex abuse to continue as priests without warning parishioners or alerting the police.[Archbishop Rembert Weakland, Former Catholic Bishop Of Milwaukee, Says He's Gay](_blank)
He 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.
Liturgical agenda
In 1965–66, Weakland served as president of the Church Music Association of America
The Church Music Association of America (CMAA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) association of Catholic church musicians and others who have a special interest in music and liturgy, active in advancing Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, and other f ...
. According to an account by Richard Schuler, 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.
In 2000, Weakland was a critic of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible ...
's document ''Dominus Iesus
( en, The Lord Jesus) is a declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (previously known as the "Holy Office"), approved in a plenary meeting of the Congregation and signed by its then prefect, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later ...
'' on religious relativism. One of his last major actions as archbishop was effecting a controversial renovation of the historic Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee.
Retirement and scandal
Weakland retired on May 24, 2002, at the mandatory retirement age of 75. His retirement was overshadowed by revelations that he paid nearly a half million dollars of diocesan funds to prevent a lawsuit.[NationalReview](_blank)
Weakland stepped down soon after it was revealed that the diocese had paid $450,000 to Paul Marcoux, a former seminarian studying at Marquette University
Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...
, to settle a claim he made against the archbishop more than two decades earlier stemming from a long-term relationship with Weakland. The archbishop admitted to the affair and apologized after the story broke. He came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
in 2009, in his memoir ''A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop''.
Following his retirement, Weakland twice announced he was moving to a Benedictine abbey – his former home at St. Vincent, the other St. Mary's Abbey in New Jersey – but both invitations were rescinded.
Removal of name from Archdiocese of Milwaukee
In March 2019, it was announced that the names of Weakland and former archbishop William Cousins would be removed from buildings in the archdiocese because they handled sex abuse cases badly. The Weakland Center, which houses parish offices and outreach initiatives, was renamed on March 22, 2019.
See also
* Catholic Church hierarchy
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishop (Catholic Church), bishops, Priesthood (Catholic Church), priests, and deacons. In the Catholic ecclesiology, ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy or ...
* Catholic Church in the United States
With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided i ...
* Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
This is a historical list of all bishops of the Catholic Church whose sees were within the present-day boundaries of the United States, with links to the bishops who consecrated them. It includes only members of the United States Conference of Cat ...
* List of Catholic bishops of the United States
The following is a list of bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, including its five inhabited territories.
The U.S. Catholic Church comprises:
* 176 Latin Church dioceses led by bishops
* 18 Eastern Catholic eparchies led by ...
*
* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee ( la, Archidiœcesis Milvauchiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. It encompasses the City of Milwaukee, ...
References
External links
Archbishop Rembert Weakland
at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weakland, Rembert
1927 births
2022 deaths
People from Cambria County, Pennsylvania
American Benedictines
Saint Vincent College alumni
Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm alumni
Columbia University alumni
Abbots Primate
20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
Roman Catholic archbishops of Milwaukee
Benedictine bishops
Writers from Pennsylvania
Writers from Milwaukee
Catholics from Pennsylvania
LGBT bishops
LGBT Roman Catholic clergy
LGBT people from Pennsylvania