Cardinal Levada Unable to Quote Holy Scripture or His Own Archdiocese Policy on Pedophile Priests

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Cardinal Can’t Quote Scripture or His Own Archdiocese Policy on Pedophile Priests. More Excerpts from Deposition of William Levada

(It seems questioning the Cardinal about Holy Scripture evokes an answer much like when Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin what she reads to keep up on issues during the 2008 election: ”… Um.” As the 2006 deposition quoted below gets going, Attorney for Plaintiffs Kelly Clark questions Cardinal William Levada about sources used to write policy for handling pedophile priests in the years Levada was Archbishop of Portland, OR, before going to San Francisco then onto the Vatican. )

Q: What sources of theology might bear on the question of child abuse? Anything come to your mind, other than canon law? Anything from Scripture, for example, that you felt a moral obligation to follow in creating such a policy?
(Pause) (SOUND: Crickets chirping)
Q: I mean, we know for example, that Christ assigned it would be better for a man to have a millstone around his neck and cast into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble, indicating a concern for the innocence and faith of children.
A: … Correct.
Q: Is that something that, to your mind, brought weight to the question of child abuse and the policy you created?
A: Well, it certainly does bring weight to my mind. I presume it did at that time as well.
Q: Again, anything else that affected or influenced the way you implemented a policy for child abuse?
MS. McNAMARA: Again, while he was archbishop of Portland?
Q: While he was archbishop of Portland, right.
THE WITNESS: I can’t think of anything.
(It’s postulating, I know, I’m working from the transcript, not video, still it’s easy to envision the scene above. The Cardinal seems surprised to be asked to quote Scripture, and Attorney for the Archbishop Mary McNamara jumps in, speaks, detracts attention from a sputtering clergyman who can’t think of a quote from Scripture when asked under Oath.)
More from deposition of William Levada January 9, 2006, in San Francisco regarding Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, bankruptcy proceedings in U.S. Court for the District of Oregon.
Q: Do you recall, Archbishop, if the policy or response that the Archdiocese of Portland gave was a policy that covered sexual abuse of minors exclusively, or did it include these other areas?
A: I don’t recall that now. I do recall for ... (Click headline to continue)
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