Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz | |
|---|---|
| Bishop Emeritus of Lincoln | |
 Bruskewitz in 2011 | |
| Diocese | Lincoln |
| Appointed | March 24, 1992 |
| Installed | May 13, 1992 |
| Retired | September 14, 2012 |
| Predecessor | Glennon Flavin |
| Successor | James D. Conley |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | July 17, 1960 by Luigi Traglia |
| Consecration | May 13, 1992 by Daniel E. Sheehan,Leo Joseph Brust, andGlennon Patrick Flavin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1935-09-06)September 6, 1935 (age 90) |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Alma mater | Pontifical North American College Pontifical Gregorian University |
| Motto | Sub tuum praesidium (Under thy protection) |
| Styles of Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz | |
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| Reference style | |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Bishop |
Ordination history of Fabian Bruskewitz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz (born September 6, 1935) is an Americanprelate of theRoman Catholic Church who served as bishop of theDiocese of Lincoln in Nebraska, from 1992 to 2012.
A 2021 report by theNebraska Attorney General cited several instances in which Bruskewitz failed to investigate claims of sexual abuse by priests in the diocese.
Fabian Bruskewitz was born on September 6, 1935, inMilwaukee, Wisconsin.[1] He attended a local parochial school before studying atSt. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin and atSt. Francis Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. He went to Rome to reside at thePontifical North American College while studying at thePontifical Gregorian University.[2]
Bruskewitz wasordained to the priesthood for theArchdiocese of Milwaukee by CardinalLuigi Traglia on July 17, 1960, at theBasilica dei Santi Apostoli in Rome.[1] Upon his return to the United States, the archdiocese assigned Bruskewitz as anassistant pastor in parishes near Milwaukee.[1][2]He briefly taught at St. Francis Seminary.[1][2]
During the mid-1950s, Bruskewitz returned to Rome for an assignment in theCongregation for Catholic Education in theRoman Curia, where he worked for eleven years. He received a Doctor of Dogmatic Theology degree from the Gregorian in 1969.[1][2]He was raised by the Vatican to the rank ofchaplain of his holiness in 1976, becoming anhonorary prelate in 1980. That same year, Bruskewitz returned to Wisconsin becamepastor of St. Bernard Parish inWauwatosa.[1][2]
On March 24, 1992,Pope John Paul II appointed Bruskewitz as the eighth bishop of Lincoln. He received hisepiscopal consecration on May 13, 1992, from ArchbishopDaniel E. Sheehan, with BishopsGlennon Flavin andLeo Brust serving asco-consecrators, at theCathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln.[2][3]
In 1998, according to a 2021 investigation by Nebraska Attorney GeneralDoug Peterson, Bruskewitz met with Monsignor Leonard Kalin, the vocations director at the Newman Center at theUniversity of Nebraska. The diocese had been receiving complaints ofsexual harassment and assault by Kalin from seminarians and undergraduates at the university. In the meeting Kalin admitted having had 50 sexual encounters with other males. In response, Bruskewitz banned Kalin from dealing with anyone under age 40, but did not report him to authorities or suspend his ministerial privileges. A later note in Kalin's personal file stated that Kalin was not following the ban.[4]
A 2005 report by theCatholic News Agency stated that the diocese had the highest priest-to-Catholic ratio in the United States. The article suggested that this was due to Bruskewitz' emphasis on orthodoxy, along with having a seminary in the diocese.[5][6] According to one opinion writer, "Fidelity to the magisterium and traditional spirituality are strikingly manifest."[7] Bruskewitz noted that
"The orthodoxy, conservatism, and enthusiasm of the clergy, both young and old, bear witness to the splendor of the Catholic priesthood in southern Nebraska."[7]
Under Bruskewitz, the diocese was the only diocese in the United States where femalealtar servers were not allowed diocese-wide.[8] Bruskewitz published a book entitledBishop Fabian Bruskewitz: A Shepherd Speaks.[9]
On September 6, 2010, Bruskewitz submitted his letter ofresignation toPope Benedict XVI, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 for bishops. Benedict XVI accepted his resignation on September 14, 2012, and appointed BishopJames D. Conley as his successor.[10][2]
In 2021, the Nebraska Attorney General report on sexual abuse by priests in Nebraska highlighted several instances in which Bruskewitz failed to followcanon law in handling allegations:
In 1997, Bruskewitz publicly opposed attempts from other bishops within theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to reach out to parents trying to cope withLGBTQ children through the pastoral document, "All our children". He called the document a “...calamity and frightening disaster...” and advised Catholics to ignore or oppose it.[11]
Bruskewitz believes that most sexual abuse by Catholic priests is against adolescent boys and is rooted in "society's acceptance of homosexuality". He has emphasized therefore that bishops should never acceptgay men into the priesthood because it encourages temptation as "priests are regularly in close proximity with children and young men". He attempted to persuade the USCCB to commission a study to examine potential links betweensexual abuse by priests and allowing gay men into Catholic seminaries.[12] The USCCB instead commissionedJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City to study sexual abuse by priests. Their report,The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010, was published in 2011.[13]
In 2016, Bruskewitz described the practice ofanal sex by gay men as a degeneration and a perversion that is "repulsive to normal human beings".[14]
Bruskewitz was occasionally at odds with the USCCB. For example, he rejected an audit by the USCCB National Review Board of his plans to implement national guidelines onsex-abuse programs, making reference to both the Review Board and Patricia O'Donnell Ewers, the former president ofPace University:[15]
Some woman named Patricia O'Donnell Ewers, who is the chair of something called 'A National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People,' has said that her board 'calls for strong fraternal correction of the Diocese of Lincoln.' The Diocese of Lincoln has nothing to be corrected for, since the Diocese of Lincoln is and has always been in full compliance with all laws of the Catholic Church and with all civil laws...The Diocese of Lincoln does not see any reason for the existence of Ewers and her organization.
The issue brought the diocese to national attention. Bruskewitz was the only one of 195 American bishops who refused to sign the USCCBCharter for the Protection of Children and Young People. He suggested that the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church was linked to clerical dissent fromCatholic sexual ethics more broadly dating to dissent from the papal encyclical,Humanae Vitae", which reaffirmed Catholic teaching onartificial birth control.[16]
Bruskewitz gained national attention[17] in 1996 for decreeing automaticexcommunication on Catholics in the diocese for membership in the following groups. In his statement, he asserted "Membership in these organizations or groups is always perilous to the Catholic Faith and most often is totally incompatible with the Catholic Faith."[18][19][20]
Call to Action appealed to Rome against Bruskewitz's decree, but in 2006 theCongregation for Bishops upheld his action.[24][25] Bruskewitz wrote in a letter to Call to Action at the time of the excommunications that "the difference between a Protestant and a dissenting Catholic is that a Protestant has integrity."[26] Regis Scanlon considered that the controversy created by Bruskewitz's decree may have been one of the factors that led CardinalJoseph Bernardin to initiate without success his "Catholic Common Ground Project" to bring American Catholic factions together, based on the belief, which Scanlon decried, that "limited and occasional dissent" from themagisterium of the Church was "legitimate".[27]
In 2004, Bruskewitz stated that he would deny theeucharist to Catholic politicians who supportabortion rights, including 2004 US presidential candidate and then US SenatorJohn Kerry.[28][29] In 2005, Bruskewitz voted to approve a USCCB resolution calling for an end to the practice ofcapital punishment. However, he said, "One can disagree with the bishops' teaching about the death penalty and still present himself for holy Communion, but one cannot disagree with a teaching about abortion and euthanasia and present himself for holy Communion."[30]
Bruskewitz continued to revere theTridentine Mass after theNovus Ordo Mass had become the ordinary form of the mass throughout the Catholic church. Before the release of the apostolic letterSummorum Pontificum by Benedict XVI in 2007, Bruskewitz was identified inThe Wanderer as one of the few U.S. bishops "...who have been generous in theEcclesia Dei indult application, as requested and emphasized repeatedly by the late Pope John Paul II."[31][32]
In 2015 Bruskewitz issued a public letter urging Catholic women not to engage inyoga. He argued that yoga has its root inHinduism, and was thus “incompatible to Christianity.”[33]
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| Preceded by | Bishop of Lincoln 1992 - 2012 | Succeeded by |
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