Next Cincy archbishop appointed

“The sexual abuse situation in the church is a tragedy and is a deep wound, and deep wounds take a long time to heal.”

Bishop Dennis Schnurr

Coadjutor archbishop of Cincinnati

The Cincinnati archdiocese is the 26th largest Catholic diocese in the United States.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Church leaders must do a better job instructing people in the faith to help address declining membership and other issues, the next leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Friday.

Bishop Dennis Schnurr, 60, who has led a smaller diocese in Duluth, Minn., since 2001, will assist Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and succeed him when he retires next year. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI.

“We find ourselves in a situation, I think, where there are several generations where I personally think we have failed — the priests, the bishops have failed — to provide solid Catholic instruction,” Schnurr said at a news conference.

He said many Catholics view Mass as an obligation instead of an opportunity to commune with God, leading to a falloff in attendance. Other challenges facing the church have included a priest shortage and rising costs.

Schnurr plans to begin work in Cincinnati on Nov. 30 and will spend about a year gradually taking over Pilarczyk’s responsibilities.

Pilarczyk, 74, has led the Cincinnati archdiocese since 1982 and is required to submit his resignation at 75. He had been criticized by victims of the church’s sexual abuse scandal for acting slowly.

The archdiocese set up a $3 million compensation fund that was part of a 2003 plea agreement to end a prosecutor’s investigation of whether clergy abuse of children wasn’t reported to authorities. The archdiocese pleaded no contest to failing to report crimes and was fined $10,000.

Schnurr praised the church’s efforts to step up monitoring programs to prevent and detect abuse as part of a long-term solution.

“The sexual abuse situation in the church is a tragedy and is a deep wound, and deep wounds take a long time to heal,” he said.

Schnurr said among his priorities in Duluth were the training of priests, outreach to youth and young adults and spending time in his parishes.

He helped organize the 1993 World Youth Day that brought Pope John Paul II to the U.S. He’s also the treasurer and former general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.