ARTICLES
May 2004 ARTICLES
Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Orthodox, Trendy, and Canned
Zero Tolerance at St. Louise
BY CHARLES A. COULOMBE
Judging from local papers, the Church in the San Gabriel Valley is going through some exciting times. On the heels of the Santa Teresita closing comes Cardinal Roger Mahony's removal of Father Chris Cunningham as the pastor of St. Louise de Marillac in Covina. On Friday, March 5, I received an agonized call from a parishioner complaining about Father Cunningham's firing. She went on to tell me that after the morning Mass at St. Louise's on Saturday, March 6, a large number of people would go down to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to protest. She explained to me that the pastor's removal was quite sudden, and no explanation was given.
At 10 a.m. the next day, a crowd of at least 100 people gathered at the foot of the steps leading up to the cathedral compound's social plaza. They milled about, most carrying rosaries, and some bearing signs in support of the pastor. When they were organized, they trod across the cement map that depicts the constellations in the night sky on the date of the cathedral's opening, and surged up the stairs.
At this point, a guard appeared, accompanied by Caroline Guerara, associate director of media relations for the archdiocese. The guard asked the crowd to take their signs outside the compound, although emphasizing that any wishing to pray in the cathedral without signs or disturbance were welcome to do so. The parishioners complied, carrying their signs out and processing back and forth on Temple Street in front of the cathedral, praying the rosary as they did so.
Caroline Guerara remarked to me that "this is a place of worship. Everyone is invited to share in our faith. However, while they have a right to free speech, we ask that they keep the protest outside."
Joining the protesters, I pieced together what they believed to be the reasons behind Father Cunningham's dismissal. Foremost of the alleged charges was the report by a parish maintenance man, who said he saw Father Cunningham hug and kiss on the cheek an 18-year old male parishioner, Andrew McMillin. As it happened, McMillin was one of the protesters. "What do you think of it all?" I asked McMillin. "Were his actions inappropriate?" "Of course not," he said. "I've known him since I was five, and he's just the best priest." An opinion seemingly expressed by the other people around us.
Father Cunningham's supporters laid great stress on the priest's way with young people. Ralph Cutruzzula declared, "I've been a high school assistant principal for 32 years in the San Gabriel Valley, in four high schools. I know teens pretty well. Father Chris has provided time, direction, hope, and love to a lot of youngsters who'd otherwise be getting into trouble. And they are the future of our Church, after all. I wish we could replicate Father Chris and put him in every school in America today."
This, however, touched on another point. According to various people I spoke to, a few people in the parish resent the amount of time and money Father Cunningham puts into the youth program. Still, as one teenager said to me, "when Father Chris came to St. Louise, we were the sixteenth wealthiest parish in the archdiocese. Now we're the sixth. That's mismanagement?"
The consensus of the protesters was that Father Cunningham was being forced out because of a comment he had made to Cardinal Mahony some months previously. Apparently, at a priests' meeting, the cardinal asked for a "candid" assessment of his handling of the molestation scandals. Father Cunningham's reply was said to have been, "well, you've got a zero-tolerance policy for anyone accused of pedophilia, but you have two outstanding accusations against yourself."
A large number of protesters said that for me to understand the situation, I had to attend what would be Father Cunningham's last public Mass the next evening at St. Louise.
On Sunday, March 7, the second Sunday in Lent, I found myself at the church, located at 1728 E. Covina Blvd. in Covina. It was packed, there being over a thousand people in the congregation. The middle pews were taken up with young people. The music of the Mass was rock and roll. Teens danced at their pews. But when the music wasn't playing, there was a lot of open weeping. Father Cunningham himself, a charismatic 41-year old, called on the congregation not to lose the Faith or leave the Church over the issue. He called the young people up around the altar. Despite the wild spirit of the liturgy, after the Agnus Dei the congregation knelt in adoration -- a custom Cardinal Mahony has been at some pains to stamp out in the archdiocese.
When communion time came, an army of Eucharistic ministers came out; but Father Cunningham gave a very good catechesis on the Real Presence, explaining further that non-Catholics ought not to partake "because it would mean that you are saying publicly that you believe in the Catholic Church and in the meaning of the Eucharist I have just explained. We can't ask you to do that." After communion, the priest knelt, nearly prostrate in prayer, facing the tabernacle off to the left.
When the Mass finished, we trooped over to a potluck dinner in the parish hall, after which various parishioners and Cunningham family members got up to speak in Father Cunningham's praise, telling stories of various good deeds the priest had done during his tenure at St. Louise. It emerged that after the weekly teen meetings there is always an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, which is very popular there among the young. The mood of the people was at once mournful and defiant. One lady said to me, "if only the cardinal could come here and see how much we love Father Chris and how much he has done for us!" Father Cunningham himself spoke a few words about how much he loved the parish and its people, again counseling them to stay loyal to the Church. He then reenacted with McMillin the action which was supposed to have landed him in trouble. Although it was nothing shocking, it must have been the first time an alleged incident of molestation was reenacted publicly by both participants.
I left the dinner somewhat confused and resolved to find out a bit more about the priest from sources less emotionally charged. Recounting what I had seen a few days later to a friend of mine with no connection (as I thought) to the affair, he replied, "Father Cunningham? I know of him. My daughter was living with her boyfriend, but she wanted a priest to come and bless their house anyway. She called around to four parishes, but none would come. Then she ended up calling St. Louise. Father Cunningham said he would be happy to do it. But after he blessed the house, he found out that they weren't married. He kept after them to marry and ended up performing the wedding himself. He really does seem concerned with souls, and you don't see that from priests too much these days."
Later, I spoke to a priest, who also knows Father Cunningham. "Well," said my informant, "I know him pretty well. Personally, he's very orthodox, although he does go in for trendy stuff. But his diplomatic and administrative skills are poor. He wasn't dismissed for the reasons everyone says, although I don't really know the reason the cardinal did it. But he probably could have kept his position if he had been more diplomatic."
One of his parishioners has opened up a website in Father Cunningham's defense. At www.SaveOurPriests.org, as of this writing, there are 1,382 letters in support of him.
Since leaving the parish, Father Cunningham has initiated ecclesiastical proceedings in his case. This means, in the first instance, an appeal to Cardinal Mahony's own tribunal, to which the cardinal had until April 1 to respond. Father Bernard Waters, of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary Catholic Church in Las Vegas, is Father Cunningham's canonical advocate. He refused to comment on the letter of appeal or the canonical process, claiming client-attorney privilege.
But archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg did say to the Whittier Star that "[Father Cunningham] is currently in the midst of a canonical process that has several steps. The final outcome of that process obviously is not clear at the moment. Father Cunningham is a priest in good standing in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This is a personnel matter and as such all parties, especially Father Cunningham, deserves to have his privacy respected." He added further that the three reasons the priests have mentioned as being the cardinal's cause against him -- the activity with McMillin, misappropriation of funds, and the comment about the cardinal's zero-tolerance policy -- are all unfounded. In any case, if the cardinal does not reverse his decision, Father Cunningham is expected to appeal the decision to Pope John Paul II.
So big has this event become that the Pasadena Star-News, in their Wednesday, March 17 issue, carried an editorial entitled, "Why remove Father Chris?" After pointing out the newspaper's own reluctance to get involved with such an "inside" issue, the editorial talked about the various gestures of support the parishioners had mounted for Father Cunningham. The editorial went on to say that the archdiocese had denied that it was Father Cunningham 's criticism of the cardinal which had sparked his removal. Nevertheless, the paper told its readers: "of course, many see it as retribution. Cunningham spoke his mind and criticized his boss. Certainly, others have criticized Mahony's handling of the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the church, but it may sting more coming from within. Still, we will stop short of drawing that conclusion because we just don't know for sure."
After attacking those who say that Father should leave because of the cheek-kissing incident, the editorial concluded: "But it was within this hostile environment, in part created by the archdiocese, that Mahony acted. The archdiocese should have known that this type of move would be viewed with distrust at a time when the Los Angeles Archdiocese alone is reeling from a sexual abuse scandal in which 244 priests, deacons and others in church positions have been accused of child sexual abuse over the last 75 years. Slicing into the heart of a healthy congregation and removing its beloved pastor, then specifically saying it has nothing to do with sexual allegations whatsoever, is either poor management or power politics or both.
"Cunningham won't win any awards for diplomacy, nor will he practice the sacrament of silence. But it appears to be an overreaction to remove him as pastor and waste his gifts. The decision set off yet another firestorm from within the capital 'C' church that was beginning to see other fires die down or go out.
"Is this any way to take care of a flock?"
Certainly this a fair question. How Cardinal Mahony's words and actions answer it will be awaited with interest by Catholic and non-Catholic alike in this corner of the archdiocese.