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Bishop resigns, problem endures
New accusations on child-abuse counts
The controversial Archbishop of Cardiff, John Aloysius Ward, finally announced his resignation on October 26, following a meeting with Pope John Paul II.

Archbishop Ward had been schedule to meet with the Holy Father in November, but the meeting was moved forward following the publication of reports in the British Catholic press that the archbishop had refused pleas from the papal nuncio, Archbishop Pablo Puente, to step down voluntarily.

For more than a year, there had been calls for the archbishop’s resignation from priests and people of his Cardiff archdiocese, who pointed to Archbishop Ward’s failure to curb the activities of two of his priests who were eventually jailed for the sexual abuse of children. The archbishop had vigorously defended himself, saying that he had done no wrong in his handling of the cases, and claiming that he was being made a scapegoat for the sex-abuse problem.

Archbishop Ward insisted that he would cling to his office even after Pope John Paul appointed a bishop from a neighboring diocese to serve as administrator of the Cardiff archdiocese. His press secretary, Peter Jennings, denied that the archbishop had knowingly covered up the activities of the two pedophile priests, and charged that the calls for his resignation were the result of personal vendettas. “There is a small, vocal minority of disloyal priests who for some years have been speaking out against Archbishop Ward in the media,” said Jennings. “Archbishop Ward did what he did with the best of intentions.”

When he did at last tender his resignation, Archbishop Ward reported Pope John Paul had not asked him to step down, and said he had resisted the move because he was “determined that no one —be it sections of the media or other critics—would force me out of office.” But he said that he was “weary of an environment characterized by a lack of loyalty” and was “shocked and deeply hurt by those sections of the media, and members of the Catholic Church, who did their utmost to attack me.” He asked for “forgiveness of anyone I have hurt during my years as Archbishop of Cardiff” and said he forgave “those who have been the cause of scandal to so many.”

The Vatican immediately announced that Bishop Peter Smith of East Anglia would become the new head of the Archdiocese of Cardiff.

Barely two weeks later, however, Archbishop-elect Smith was defending his own decision to allow a priest convicted of abducting two young boys to continue his pastoral duties.

The new scandal arose following public revelations that Bishop Smith allowed Father Laurie Locke to carry out limited duties at the Holy Apostles Church in the West Earlham district of Norwich after Locke’s three-year probation for attempted child abduction ended. The Guardian newspaper reported that the criminal charges were filed after “Father Locke attempted to abduct the boys while he was parish priest in Ely, Cambridgeshire, by posing as a tourist needing directions.”

Bishop Smith told The Tablet that Father Locke’s rehabilitation had been conducted within Church guidelines and in cooperation with the statutory authorities. He added, “Father Locke is a good priest who had a breakdown in bizarre circumstances, but no one was harmed. He was well accepted in West Earlham, where he has limited duties.” The bishop said that the whole matter had been concluded a long time ago, and expressed frustration that it had resurfaced.

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