Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen was a witness to order to destroy list of Philadelphia priests suspected of abuse. - Morning Call
Cullen had secret list
New court filing says Allentown bishop, four others knew of 35 allegedly abusive priests
Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen was one of three high ranking clergy present… (Mariella Savidge, TMC)
March 03, 2012|By Peter Hall and Matt Assad, Of The Morning Call
Nearly two decades ago, Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen was one of two or three high-ranking clergy present when the head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese ordered the shredding of a list of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children, according to a recent court filing in Philadelphia.
A copy of that list and a 1994 memo recording Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua's instructions to destroy it has turned up in the case of Monsignor William Lynn, a former archdiocesan official charged with endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy for allegedly enabling priests to molest children.
Click on the following for more of the story: Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen was a witness to order to destroy list of Philadelphia priests suspected of abuse. - Morning Call
To read about the other Bishop(Saginaw Bishop Joseph Cistone) who witness the shredding go to: http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2012/03/lawyers-say-saginaw-bishop-joseph.html
To read the actual court document which names the two bishops, go to: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-philadelphia-priest-abuse-cardinal,0,4657013.htmlpage#document/p2
Edward Peter Cullen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Peter_Cullen
.
Most Rev. Edward Peter Cullen
Bishop of Allentown
Church
Roman Catholic
See
Allentown
In Office
1997—2009
Predecessor
Thomas Jerome Welsh
Successor
John Barres
Orders
Ordination
May 18, 1962
Personal details
Born
March 15, 1933 (1933-03-15) (age 78)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Previous post
Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia,
Titular Bishop of Paria in Proconsolare
Bishop
Edward Peter Cullen (born March 20, 1933) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the third Bishop of Allentown. His resignation was accepted on 27 May 2009 by Pope Benedict. [1]. At the same time, Pope Benedict named Msgr. John Barres as the fourth Bishop of the diocese.
Early life
The second of six children in an Irish Catholic family, Edward Cullen was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Edward Peter and Julia Catherine (née Leahy) Cullen.[1] He was raised in Yeadon, along with his older sister, Joan, and three younger brothers, Joseph, John, and James.[2] Cullen attended West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, where he excelled at football and track and was involved in the school newspaper, and worked as a cashier at an Acme supermarket.[1]
Following his graduation from West Catholic, he studied engineering at the Drexel Institute of Technology.[1] In 1953, he entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, from where he obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958.[1]
Priesthood
On May 19, 1962, Cullen was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Krol in the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. He then served as an assistant pastor at St. Maria Goretti Church in Hatfield and at St. Bartholomew Church in Philadelphia.
Cullen was sent by Archbishop Krol to study social work at the University of Pennsylvania, later earning his Master of Social Work degree in 1970.[1] This was followed by a Master of Religious Education from La Salle University (1971) and Master of Divinity from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary (1974).[3] From 1979 to 1993, he served as a chaplain at St. Edmond's Home for Children in Bryn Mawr.[2]
Cullen was raised to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness in April 1982,[1] and served as director of Catholic Social Services from 1983 to 1988.[3] In August 1988, he was named vicar general of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Episcopal career
On February 8, 1994, Cullen was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop of Paria in Proconsolare by Pope John Paul II. The event was con-celebrated by the notorious Father DePaoli, a man with thousands of dollars worth of illegal pictures of children. Cullen received his episcopal consecration on the following April 14 from Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, with Archbishops John Foley and Francis Schulte serving as co-consecrators.[4] He selected as his episcopal motto: "Christ, Church, Compassion".[1]
Bishop of Allentown
Cullen was later named Bishop of Allentown on December 16, 1997. Replacing the retiring Thomas Welsh, he was formally installed on February 9, 1998.[4] In 2003, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America.[1]
In 2008, Cullen initiated a program which would restructure many parishes in the Diocese. As part of this program, 47 parishes were closed, this reduced the number parishes from 151 to 104.
In April 2009, Cullen described the University of Notre Dame's decision to have President Barack Obama to deliver its commencement speech and receive an honorary degree as "disappointing" and "not in harmony" with the directive of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops against honoring pro-choice politicians.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Bishop". Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown. http://www.allentowndiocese.org/bishop.html.
- ^ a b "Bishop of the Diocese of Allentown". Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena. http://www.cathedral-church.org/bishop.html.
- ^ a b "Bishop Welsh's Resignation Accepted; Bishop Cullen to Allentown". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 1997-12-15. http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/1997/97-267.shtml.
- ^ a b "Bishop Edward Peter Cullen". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcullen.html.
- ^ Gilbert, Kathleen (2009-05-04). "62: Three More Bishops Against Notre Dame Scandal, Obama Urged to Decline Invitation". LifeSiteNews.com. http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050403.html.
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