Edit: ordinarily, it wouldn't be too worthwhile posting this, but it was interesting to see some of the details of the report and not so much what he did, but where he was doing it.
The Cardinal has retired with his life partner and successor, Archbishop George Niederauer, to some very nice rooms in Long Beech.
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/cardinal-levada-set-to-retire-with.html?m=1
Here's the report in full:
One of the high-ranking American officials of the Roman Catholic Church was arrested for drunken driving late last week in Kailua-Kona.
The Most Eminent Cardinal William Joseph Levada, 79, of Menlo Park, Calif., was stopped at about midnight Thursday on Hina Lani Street and charged with DUI, according to the police arrest log. He was released from police custody after posting $500 bail about an hour later.
“I regret my error in judgment. I intend to continue fully cooperating with the authorities,” Levada said in an email statement issued Monday by the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Levada, the former Archbishop of San Francisco, was appointed as a cardinal, a prince of the church, on May 13, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI, just weeks after his election as pontiff. He was the first U.S. prelate to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s powerful guardian of doctrine. He now holds the title of Prefect Emeritus of the Conclave of the Faith since his retirement as prefect in July 2012. He also was a member of the conclave that elected Pope Francis in March 2013.
Levada drew fire in 2013 after coming to the defense of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, who was stripped of his public duties over his handling of the priest sex abuse crisis in the church, but still allowed to select a new pope, saying some priest abuse victims groups who have criticized Mahony may never be satisfied with the church’s response to the crisis.
“There are some victims groups for whom enough is never enough, so we have to do our jobs as best we see it,” Levada said at the time, according to Associated Press. “He has apologized for errors in judgment that were made. I believe he should be at the conclave.”
Levada was on vacation with priest friends when the DUI arrest occurred, according to archdiocese spokesman Michael Brown.
He has a court date of Sept. 24 in Kona District Court.
“He’s required to appear at court,” said Sgt. Robert Pauole, who heads the police Traffic Services Section.
A police spokeswoman said in a Monday email Levada was pulled over after a Kona Patrol officer saw him swerve while driving northbound on Queen Kaahumanu Highway north of Kealakehe Parkway.
Levada was driving a 2015 Nissan Altima and was alone in the car at the time, the spokeswoman said. She could not say who the car is registered to or if the car was towed. She also declined to give Levada’s blood-alcohol content, but a 0.08 blood-alcohol level is the threshold for legal intoxication in Hawaii.
Pauole said Levada, who likely has a California driver’s license, would have had his license taken by the arresting officer, but the license would not have been suspended.
“The officer should have given him a four-page document,” Pauole said. “That four-page document is his temporary license for 30 days. He was also supposed to be given a document that would tell him how to contest (the Administrative Driver’s License Revocation Office case) it, in the meantime, in the ADLRO office.
Asked if the car would have been impounded, Pauole replied, “That depends on the circumstances.”
“Sometimes officers will impound it based on the Aliyah law,” Pauole continued, referring to the statute named after Aliyah Braden, a 17-month-old toddler killed by a drunken driver who ran a red light in Kailua-Kona on May 23, 2009. “… That’s based on where it’s parked, if there’s someone else in the car who’s not intoxicated, or he’s able to get someone to come down and pick up the car. It varies depending on the circumstance.”
According to the archdiocese website, Levada, a Long Beach, Calif., native, was ordained a priest in the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 1961.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/catholic-cardinal-arrested-dui
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
26 comments:
DUI: there must be something about San Francisco: ++Cordileone went DUI also a few years back.
What is a "life partner"?
"life partner" LOL!
So anyway - a stint at Betty Ford and all will be forgiven.
The shared a villa in Rome and loved Brokeback Mountain kind?
If true, at least one can safely assume ++C wasn't leaving a certain type of bar.
Levada and Niederauer evidently did quite nicely for themselves. Unlike the 3rd worlders they claim to love.
I hope the cardinal was drunk when he voted for Bergoglio. Then he might have some kind of excuse for his vote.
I'm afraid that I can't believe he was drunk when he voted, IMHO he knew very well what to do, he convinced the USA Cardinals who didn't know the wonderman from Argentina......what a shameful show!
Poor Levada. He was a Benedict appointee Francis has had nothing to do with him Niederauer also was a Benedict man. hmm. not so sure that Cordileone--a Benedict apointee--might not be at that same bar after all
Levada was kicked upstairs, not promoted.
I just wish these old farts, Levada, Cupich et al would just evaporate into the air and be done with.
Bring down the age of retirement for a Catholic Bishop even if it means the good ones have to retire early too. At least the bad ones would be culled.
I am no fan of the miscreants who pass for bishops and cardinals these days, but those of us on the side of truth must be careful to be fair and meticulously truthful. I do not see in the article about Levada anything about going or coming from a bar, much less the suggestion it was a gay bar; nor any evidence of these two prelates being "life partners." Let us be careful even as we are brutally truthful: we do not need exaggerations nor lies to show these clerical wolves in sheep's clothing for the traitors to the Faith and their flocks that they are. But let us be sane and clear headed.
Oh, sorry... "Life Partner" was the first thing that sprang to mind when I heard Levada and Brokeback were sharing a villa in Rome and then moved into a cute residence in Long Beech to spend their twilight years together, going to places like Hawaii and having a great time!
According to the same rather tenuous logic, the same could be said of abdicated emeritus Benedict XVI and his very good friend ++Ganswain.
The caution of Anon 3:35 PM is warranted.
Except Archbishop Gaenschwein has never defended gender ideology, and Benedict XVI is very busy with ecclesiastical matters in his retirement,as opposed to frittering it away in exotic locales, boozing. Benedict XVI also never defended Cardinal Mahony, but he did send him packing, much to Mahony's venemous ire, since he could barely contain his loathsome glee when Benedict announced his retirement.
Levada wasn't "kicked upstairs" He was forced to retire under Benedict--who had appointed him--and Francis has not kept him in Rome as is usual for Cardinals under 80 who are not residential archbishops but sent him packing. Frankly John Paul and Benedict are the men responsible for our misbehaving bishops, not that Francis men may not screw up in the future but the current scandals: Law, Nienstedt, Mahony, Finn are all JP II and Benedict men. and don't tell me that Cordileone isn't a pansy and Burke. I mean both are serious ecclesiastical cross dressers
What makes you think that Burke and Cordileone are pansies and cross-dressers? They talk straight, they don't say fruity Masses, and you don't see them retired with life partners in high-end real estate.
I confess surprise that you didn't seize the opportunity to tell us all Levada, Niedy, Mahoney and company did for "the poor."
Gaybriel,
"By their words wilt thou know them."
Shutting your piehole for a change is warranted.
Considering that most of the work of the CDF continued being done by Benedict, I'd say Levada was kicked upstairs.
I must say that I am surprised at the facile allegations of a gay life style made on the basis of two Roman prelates sharing accommodations. There may be more to all this than I know, but the fact that two men who have chosen celibacy as a requirement of their priesthood live together in retirement does not equal a gay or amorous relationship. This is both a weird leap in logic and a clear form of slander. What does sound rather gay to me is the hysterical, snarky assumption made by Tancred about not-reported visits to gay bars and "cute" houses in Long Beach. I have no interest in defending the Novus Ordo rotten clergy, but I still respect objectivity and fairness. Levada and the former archbishop of Minneapolis may be gay for all I know, but the Church faces much more serious dangers and problems than the tenuous, illogical allegations made here with reference to the DUI arrest. This makes me suspect the accuracy and Catholic devotion to truth---all truth---of this site as well as the sanity of Tancred (a sign of trouble came a few months ago when he made some cryptic but clearly negative remarks concerning the great and holy John Henry Newman---an undeclared doctor of the Church whose sandal straps Tancred, I fear, is not fit to fasten). But I am not surprised: it is the half-century curse of traditiona Catholics---a noble, sublime cause with too many odd foot soldiers. We would all do well to remember (beginning with myself) that Catholic moral theology still considers detraction a mortal sin---which does not mean we should not shout from the house tops the many real scandals and abuses of persons, of doctrine, of liturgy, and ultimately of Truth that we all daily witness in the present great apostasy.
Sign your posts.
You must not be aware of or are uninterested in the history of these bishops.
Save your umbrage for yourself, you deserve it.
And one more thing. Before you go off on an ill-advised and hysterical rant accusing someone of same, accusing one of being inaccurate, out of touch with the facts, of dubious sexuality and insane, you should probably get your facts straight. No pun intended!
1. Archbishop Niederauer who shares a pricey haunt in Long Beach with Cardinal Levada, was never the Archbishop Of Minneapolis. There WAS an Archbishop of Saint Paul, however, who was unjustly accused of being a sexual predator, maybe that's who you were thinking about?
2. I never said Levada goes to a "gay bar" but it wouldn't surprise me if he did.
I used to think he was good for a laugh...now I can only see the vile and venom dripping off of him, accompanied by the smell of sulfur. Perhaps he's the same 'gabriel' that appeared to muhammed .
Charming!
Not a gay bar, but he was stopped right in the neighborhood of the Double Dare adult book store and gay cruising spot. Not too many other places open in that part of town. Don't believe it? Look on a map. Check with the local police about that store and that part of town at night.
Well said Anonymous.
Truth is the accommodation of the mind to reality.
If you get in a problem while driving. There are many competent people who can assist you in facing your penalties. DUI lawyer will dedicate their time and effort to study your case and to make sure that you can win it in the end.
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