The Pittsburgh diocese picked up a cool $2+ million, after it dumped off, on undisclosed buyers, the Warwick Terrace mansion that housed five Pittsburgh bishops and plenty of memories that I’m sure current bishop, David Zubik, would like to forget. After Zubik was installed as the new bishop of Pittsburgh (last September), he announced a self-imposed penance. Zubik would choose not to reside in the opulence of the 39-room mansion adjacent to Squirrel Hill's Wilkins Avenue and Shadyside's 5th Avenue. Instead, the bishop would downsize to an apartment at St. Paul’s Seminary, in Crafton.
David Zubik, the Go-to Guy
It has been decades since the manor house was donated to the diocese, and we’re just beginning to understand why the current Bishop of Pittsburgh has cause to be filled with too much guilt and too many shameful memories, in order for him to call the mansion home. For starters, during Donald Wuerl’s reign as head honcho of the diocese, Zubik was one of the go-to guys when it came to discussing with parents and guardians clergy sex abuse crimes. One of the families Zubik would coach and counsel was the Matthews. Chris was an eleven year old altar boy at Holy Spirit Church in West Mifflin, PA, when the alleged abuse committed by former diocesan priest, John Wellinger, took place.
In 1995, Mr. & Mrs. Jim Matthews met with David Zubik, in order to lodge criminal accusations of a sexual nature against John Wellinger. Ironically, Wellinger was already on an administrative leave which, according to my sources, was intended to include an interval of time at St. Luke’s Treatment Center, in Maryland. The administrative leave was imposed upon Wellinger a full three months before the Matthews would even have scheduled an appointment with Zubik, let alone meet with him. Remember, Wuerl had a legal advisory committee made up of 12 to 36 Pittsburgh attorneys, as well as two Supreme Court chief justices, Stephen Zappala, and David Cappy. News of criminal accusations involving the Pittsburgh diocese could hardly by-pass the legal grapevine created by Wuerl.
Mr. Matthews was a seasoned West Mifflin Police officer who knew that John Wellinger may have committed serious criminal acts, conceivably punishable by years of imprisonment. But, all that the Matthews wanted, as they pleaded their case before Zubik, was to keep Wellinger away from children and to make sure that the rogue priest would never serve in the capacity of priest, again. There was no doubt that Zubik was relieved to hear that the Matthews were content to not file criminal charges. Street smart-like clerics instinctually know when to turn on the pathetically pious priestly quasi-charm. Guilt trip number 1.
Shadyside: A Venue for Molesters
Shadyside, besides being home to a string of bishops, is notorious for crime scenes involving the Pittsburgh Diocese. The Richard Ginder who rose to prominence during John Wright's regime is one example. Segments of his double life as priest-pederast are documented in Randy Engel's scholarly and heavily endnoted account of intergenerational homosexuality in the Catholic Church. That account is titled the Rite of Sodomy, and it comprises 1,174 pages of text where within are 4,523 endnotes. According to Engel's book, an extensive investigation resulted in a raid by local police, where photographs of teenage boys performing sexual acts with Ginder were found. The vice squad also found diaries written by Ginder, describing his homosexual activities with young men. This was in 1969, the same year when Rome promoted Bishop John Wright. Shortly thereafter, John Wright would leave for Rome with his new sidekick – Donald Wuerl. Guilt trip number 2.
Someone Could Have Prevented This Sex Abuse Casualty
Shadyside Hospital (now part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) was the go-to hospital when the crimes of clerics who sexually abused children would need to be covered up. For more details on the conspiracy to cover up the crimes of John Wellinger at Shadyside Hospital, refer to my examiner link at: http://www.examiner.com/x-12613-Pittsburgh-Independent-Examiner~y2009m8d17-Who-is-in-Donald-Wuerls-Back-Pocket-and-Why
The alleged attack by John Wellinger on the teenage boy who made his way to the Shadyside Hospital emergency room occurred in 1987. Chris Matthews was allegedly assaulted by John Wellinger in 1989. Was Zubik aware of the alleged transgressions which caused a drugged teenager to lapse into unconsciousness at the hands of a Catholic priest? The more poignant question that one should pose is – who wasn’t aware of Wellinger’s exploits on the teenage boy? Chris Matthews should never have been harmed in 1989. John Wellinger could have and should have been stopped years earlier. But, the Pittsburgh diocese played by the same rules as every other Catholic diocese, when it came to clergy sex abuse, covering up crimes against innocent minors and protecting the predators – at any cost. Guilt trip number 3.
The Class Action Lawsuit Settlement of 2006
Merely weeks before Zubik was to be installed as Donald Wuerl’s replacement, local history was made. 32 alleged survivors of clergy abuse would split $1.25 million for crimes that the Pittsburgh diocese will never have to admit ever occurred. The settlement would not tarnish the stellar reputation of Archbishop Donald Wuerl who was never known to have paid a dime of diocesan money (does not include insurance money paid to victims) to any clergy abuse victim, during his tenure as bishop of Pittsburgh. Oddly enough, his underling – so to speak – Auxiliary Bishop Bradley, would reconcile this situation only weeks before Bishop David Zubik would be installed as the new leader of the diocese. So, it seems that everything fell into place.
The settling of the class action suit certainly allowed for an impressive and dignified installation of Bishop Zubik, assuring it to be free of the heckles and demonstrations of any group who has compassion for minors sexually abused by Catholic priests. And, although I have neither proof nor anyway to calculate it, I would be willing to bet the farm that more money was spent on Zubik’s festivities than was awarded to the 32 survivors of alleged abuse by Pittsburgh diocesan priests. No big deal. The worst is over, unless of course, somewhere down the road – maybe in a year, a few months, a couple of weeks, or perhaps in the next few days – information turns up that reveals sexual abuse and cover-ups to have been the norm in the Pittsburgh diocese, just as it was in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The Grand Jury who investigated the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a scathing report on Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua's conduct and on that of others in the church's hierarchy. It should be noted that Bevilacqua served in the Pittsburgh Diocese prior to being assigned to Philadelphia. Anyone with a little common sense would be reluctant to believe that a man of the cloth who hid clergy crimes on the eastern side of the Commonwealth of PA would not have been inclined to have done the same thing on the western side of it, as well. That’s a lot of if’s and’s or but’s, as well as a few of the reasons why Zubik would feel too guilty to live in a Shadyside mansion haunted by endless memories – more evil than good.
Anyone with additional information to this story or similar events please feel free to send a message to my email address, at Ference@icubed.com, or drop a dime at 412-233-5491.
Reporting live from Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle – where the confluence of the Sicilian mob and the Democratic Party meet to form the deMOBocrats.
Comments
Permit me to add on to the Shadyside coincidence factor and to add the factor of Zubik's close proximity to a molester priest:
David Zubik used to be the vice principal of Quigley High School during five of the years when the notorious John Hoehl was its headmaster. The years when both Zubik and Hoehl were at Quigley spanned from 1980 to 1985. Hoehl was not reported during those years. He was then transferred to another high school, and in 1986 he was finally reported for molestation.
Hoehl was then sent to a psychiatric clinic in Toronto, got a favorable prognosis, and then, in 1988, he was assigned by Donald Wuerl to a chaplaincy post at (of all places) SHADYSIDE HOSPITAL. During that time, Zubik was one of Wuerl's secretaries.
Let's go a step further. David Zubik started his priestly career
as an assistant pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, located in (of all places) SHADYSIDE. He was there for a 4 to 5 year period.
Hey boys and girls, let's do the Shadyside Shuffle!
John Wellinger was also a big fan of the Shadyside area, according to former Clairton Public Safety Director Bill Scully. Scully told me Wellinger would leave the rectory almost every weekday night and return in the wee hours of the night. I tracked his comings and goings for months at a time. I remember stopping one morning about 2:00 am with my son after a night of fishing along the Mon. My son thought I was crazy as I told him Wellinger was still out for the evening because the outside light was still turned on.
Mike Ference
Mike, I admire your persistence. You must feel like a lone voice in the wilderness trying to get the Truth
to be taken seriously and held to the standards of the criminal code.
I doubt Mr Zubik sold that house out of guilt. That is one of the big problems with the systematic child rape and coverups of the Catholic Church. They appear to feel no guilt or remorse. When you listen to their "I;m sorry" it is always as part of a sentence that actually means "I'm sorry the secret is out. I am sorry there is scandal. I am sorry some of my brother priests are going to have to get new hobbies."
Zubik, in particular, likes to put on a dog and pony show along with a few choruses of "woe is me!" but it's just smoke and mirrors meant to divert our attention so we can't see what is really going on: the abuse of power on an international scale that results in the destruction of thousands, if not millions of lives of innocent children and their families.
Keep fighting the good fight. Document everything. If there is justice in this world or any karma, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's criminal boondoggle should lead right back to Pittsburgh and there will be nowhere for Zubik and his Vicars for Clergy to hide. If they can indict Monsignor Lynn in Philly, they can indict Bishop William J. Waltersheid, and Father Harry R. Bielewicz, in Pittsburgh.
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