This is the second incident in less than two months of a prominent bishop caught by the police for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco was arrested last month a few weeks before he took over his new diocese after being Bishop of nearby Oakland. At least, he was not involved in a road accident (in fact, he was driving his mother home from a dinner with friends), as this Polish bishop was... This provides yet another category of reasons for bishops constrained to resign... Mons. Jarecki is to be commended, nonetheless, for owning up to his misdemeanor and to his alcohol problem...
Warsaw auxiliary bishop arrested
for drunken driving, apologizes
to the faithful and has offered
his resignation to the Pope
Translated from
Oct. 22, 2012
Mons. Piotr Jarecki, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, offered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI today after he was arrested for drunken driving on Saturday and found with 2.5% alcohol in his blood.
Jarecki admitted to his responsibility and has asked forgiveness from the faithful for 'betraying their trust' while saying he would place himself under a health regimen to cure alcoholism.
The 67-year-old bishop said in a statement on the diocesan website: "I place myself in the hands of the Holy Father for his disposition as to my role as auxiliary bishop of Warsaw".
"I should never have driven under the influence of alcohol," he said. He was arrested and detained by the police for a few hours Saturday evening after he crashed his car into a lamp post.
His blood alcohol level was way beyond the allowable limit of 0.2%. Warsaw laws are rather harsh for drunken driving and can impose as much as two years in prison for those found guilty.
Jarecki has been auxiliary bishop of Warsaw since 1994. For six years, he was vice-president of the Commission on Episcopates of the European Community.
Corriere de la Sera acknowledges getting the original report from AFP, but it has supplemented it with information not found in the AFP story..
Speaking of assignments and reassignments made by Pope Benedict XVI, I was saddened the other day to see that even Andrea Tornielli has joined John Allen and other Catholic media writers in English who are peddling the idea that Mons. Tobin, the Redemptorist named by the Pope to be #2 at the Congregation that oversees religious orders two years ago, was 'promoted by removal' to be Archbishop of Indianapolis because he was, at the very least, 'sympathetic' to the dissenting nuns of LCWR. You may find the English account of Tornielli's report in the Vatican Insider on
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/tobin-stati-uniti-united-states-estados-unidos-vescovi-bishops-obispos-19061/
Tornielli names some other reassignments made by Benedict XVI in recent years with the implication that they were all 'politically' motivated, including the appointment of now-Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith to be Archbishop of Colombo after he had been #2 at the Congregation for Divine Worship. Among the examples he cites, the only apparently questionable move - everything else seemed reasonable and right - was the reassignment of an Italian bishop from the Vatican Prefecture for Economic Affairs to become a coadjutor bishop (therefore de facto successor as bishop) to a major Italian diocese, simply because he reportedly did not get along with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
On the other hand, what self-respecting bishop would not welcome the chance to head his own diocese versus being some middle-level bureaucrat in the Roman Curia? An argument that applies to Mons. Sciculan's promotion to the Archdiocese of Malta. That was criticized as having been prompted by objections 'in the Curia' to his tough line against sex-offender priests! Even assuming there are still some such benighted objectors - who would therefore be objecting to Benedict XVI's tough line - does anyone really think their objections would have forced the Pope to 'get Scicluna out of the way' to appease them? Because that is the implication of the unwarranted speculation on why Scicluna was promoted.
This sort of unnecessary speculation reduces Benedict XVI to just another run-of-the-mill executive whose decisions are not necessarily aboveboard but can be dictated by expediency.
Following that logic, one would have to conclude that Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was guilty of everything the IOR board accused him of because his precipitate and totally unprecedented 'defenestration' from the IOR continues to be unredressed. And that however nauseating it is to think about, Mons. Vigano was given the consolation prize, despite his evident political maneuvering within the Curia, of the 'prestigious' post of Nuncio to Washington just to get him out of Rome. (Or maybe the Pope just does not consider that post particularly 'prestigious' or 'important' at this time since he himself can have direct access to United States bishops without the need of Vigano's mediation.) It would be interesting to learn what input Vigano had, if any, into Tobin's nomination to Indianapolis - since the Nuncio does formally provide the short list of three nominees for an episcopal post to the Pope and the Congregation for Bishops. If Vigano had no hand in it, is this something he could use sooner or later to get back at the Pope?
P.S. I am well aware I may be accused of challenging the consensus - if consensus it is - of Vatican reporters and commentators who have been plying their trade for decades, and who am I to do so. Well, consensus is not always equivalent to what is true and right, and consensus among reporters and commentators covering the same beat often seems to be automatic. It is common practice for reporters covering the same beat to 'coordinate' the line they will pursue in reporting a story, and that is why one sees very little authentically independent reporting in the MSM. What I am challenging is the automatic 'consensus reporting and commentary' that marks MSM journalism. I do not have to toe anyone's line, I am beholden to no one, and I can write what I think, since I do not have to please any editor, or generate a headline that may get greater readership because it raises a controversy where there really isn't one. My opinion is just as legitimate as anyone else, and not necessarily more right or more wrong, for that matter..
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2012 01:48]