WASHINGTON — U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, who died Sept. 26
in Rome, is well-known as the retired head of the Vatican's doctrinal
congregation, but his experience leading major U.S. dioceses prepared him for
this role.
"I firmly believe that what I have experienced in my
ministry among God's people here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco has been a
great grace for me and has enriched me for the new service to the universal
church to which our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, has called me now," he
said during a Mass attended by more than 3,000 people at the Cathedral of St.
Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, just before he left the archdiocese in
2005.
He also told the congregation that his 10 years as archbishop
there had been "a significant part of my life as a man, a priest and a
bishop."
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in
2005, he named then-Archbishop Levada to replace him as head of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican agency charged with
protecting and promoting the church's teachings on faith and morals. It was the
first time a U.S. prelate had led the congregation.
The Vatican appointment did not come as a surprise to many of
then-Archbishop Levada's friends and fellow U.S. prelates at the time.
Archbishop John G. Vlazny, now retired archbishop of Portland,
Oregon, said: "His intelligence was obvious, but his affability and
goodness were equally evident." Cardinal Levada served as archbishop of
Portland from 1986 to 1995.
"As much as I enjoy his company, I am even more grateful for
the good pastoral care he gave this local church. ... He is a loyal churchman,
a faithful disciple of the Lord and a man of integrity," said the
archbishop, who had known then-Archbishop Levada since 1958, when they met as seminary
classmates at the North American College in Rome.
Retired Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash.,
then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said at the time
that it was a great honor for Archbishop Levada to receive the appointment.
"He is also taking on a tremendous responsibility, but he is
well-prepared for it intellectually and spiritually, as Pope Benedict XVI
clearly recognizes in choosing him to be his successor at the
congregation," he said.
Before moving to Portland, for three years he served as an
auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, where earlier he had served as an associate
pastor, teacher and campus ministry chaplain. He also served as secretary of
the California Catholic Conference, a public policy agency of the state's bishops.
In a 2005 interview with Catholic News Service, then-Archbishop
Levada said his U.S. pastoral experience made him sympathetic to the doctrinal
and teaching challenges faced by local bishops around the world.
As bishop, he helped write the "Catechism of the Catholic
Church," and he said formation in the faith was one area where universal
and local churches could cooperate. As archbishop of San Francisco, he was a
key figure in the approval of new norms to handle cases of priestly sexual
abuse.
In 2002, he was a member of the U.S.-Vatican commission that made
final revisions to the norms, which laid out a strict policy on priestly sex
abuse and provided for removal from ministry or laicization of priests who have
sexually abused minors.
He also had experience with the pastoral side of another issue
that had drawn increasing attention from the Vatican's doctrinal congregation:
same-sex marriage. He told a Synod of Bishops in 1997 that his own experience
in San Francisco had taught him how easily dialogue can be overtaken by
political pressure on this issue.
"The city's human rights commission named me as contributing
to a 'climate' of discrimination against homosexuals because I said public
recognition should not be given to so-called 'gay marriages,'" he said.
As archbishop he also opposed a city ordinance requiring all
agencies contracting with the city to provide spousal benefits to domestic
partners of their employees. Noncompliance could have jeopardized the church's
social service contracts with the city. The city of San Francisco changed the
ordinance so that employees of church agencies could designate any legally
domiciled member of their household for spousal benefits.
In 2004, Archbishop Levada helped lead a prayer rally for the
defense and promotion of marriage after the city of San Francisco decided to
issue same-sex marriage licenses.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said in a Sept.
26 statement announcing the cardinal's death that he had known him "ever
since he was my seminar moderator in my first year of theology. I always
appreciated his guidance and his commitment to the integrity of the church's
faith."
Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, N.M., said: "The
cardinal always gave of himself selflessly to the church that he loved so much,
and he used all of his abilities in her service. The gift that always impressed
me most was the gift of his heart. He had great compassion for the priests and
people of the church."
Cardinal Levada's funeral was Sept. 27 in St. Peter's Basilica.
St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco planned a memorial Mass, but no other
details were announced immediately.