Posted on 08/29/2011 3:25:02 PM PDT by NYer
Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore has been named by Pope Benedict XVI to become grandmaster of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.
The appointment is a surprise, because Archbishop O’Brien has spent less than 4 years as the head of the Baltimore archdiocese, America’s oldest see. In the t past, the post as grandmaster of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre has generally been awarded to a cardinal working at the Vatican who is approaching retirement age.
A native of New York, Archbishop O’Brien served as rector of the North American College and as head of the US military ordinariate before his appointment to Baltimore. He has attracted both praise and criticism there for his strong opposition to same-sex marriage, his support for crisis-pregnancy centers against efforts to restrict their activities, and his early decision to curb the activities of the Legionaries of Christ in the Baltimore archdiocese.
At the age of 72, Archbishop O’Brien will move to Rome to take over his new duties. He will remain apostolic administrator of the Baltimore archdiocese until a successor is named. In his new capacity he replaces another American, Cardinal John Foley, who announced in February that he was returning to his native Philadelphia, because advancing illness (leukemia) had made it impossible for him to continue his work.
The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, and equestrian order founded at the close of the 11th century to protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land, continue to provide support for the Church in that region. The grand master of the order is traditionally a cardinal. Technically, Archbishop O’Brien has been named the “pro-grandmaster,” with the full title presumably to follow when he receives a red hat at the next consistory.
Ping!
Is this the guy who used to be a military chaplain? Wasn’t he just appointed to Baltimore a few years ago? If so, I’ve heard him speak and it was refreshingly strong and unamibiguous....wonder why the transfer...
I see... read the article (not just scanned) and it answers the questions.
My hunch at this time is that B16 wants to move younger good-guys into the most powerful sees where they can stay for a long time. B16 knows -- at age 84 himself--- he's got to make his major-impact appointments very soon before age and disability close off his options.
Thus you reward a good prelate like O'Brien by giving him a Vatican niche 3 years short of the canonical retirement age for Abps, give him a Cardinal hat so he can vote in the next consistory (they have a vote until the age of 80), and put a young guy into the Baltimore see.
I'm not really that into curial politics, but that's my guess.
I gather that Holy-Land overseer stuff is rather important...probably more so these days.
You may well be right. I haven’t been able to find out much about the specifics.
I live in Baltimore. When he was appointed, I had high hopes. However, O’brien disappointed me in the way he rammed through and I mean rammed through the Benzinger sex education. He also allowed liturgical dance at my daughter’s First Communion. He is a mixed bag.
This is quite an honor. The Knights are a great group of very devout and dedicated people.
Yeah, we fought that one in our kids' school. They put it in place, but we, and several other families decided to have our kids NOT take part in the classes. We had no problem with them learning about the subject, but NOT from some teacher who was just mouthing the tripe from the textbook. The kids who had to stay in the classes told our kids they were lucky that they didn't have to sit through the boring classes.
What a waste of valuable educational time!
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