Crowd backs calls to jail Ziemann

Feb. 2, 2000

By MIKE GENIELLA
Press Democrat Bureau

UKIAH -- To the consternation of San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, a sometimes contentious crowd that nearly filled 550-seat St. Mary of the Angels Church on Tuesday night loudly applauded calls for the jailing of Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann and his former top financial aide.

In the most spirited confrontation yet between Catholic parishioners and church hierarchy who now oversee the debt-ridden Diocese of Santa Rosa, Levada chastised the crowd for applauding speakers who said Ziemann should be sent to jail.

"It's very inappropriate to call for the bishop to go to jail. I don't applaud that,'' Levada said.

The crowd groaned when Levada asserted that while Ziemann and former Vicar General Thomas Keys may have left the diocese with financial woes totaling $30 million, including at least $5 million in risky investments in the United States and Europe, it was unfair to demand that they be criminally punished.

Levada said he didn't consider it appropriate for parishioners to equate mismanagement and malfeasance with stealing and thievery. "You should not make rash judgments'' he said.

But the crowd, while polite, made it clear they did not readily accept Levada's call for unity and healing, and for forgiveness.

"I applaud you, archbishop, for being so forgiving, but I will no longer contribute to this diocese until the people who made this mess start paying for it,'' said Mary Shepherd of Fort Bragg.

Dr. Sid Mauer, a 31-year member of St. Mary's parish, was loudly applauded when he demanded, "Why aren't these people in jail?''

For Levada, the challenges to church practices began when he was confronted before the forum by Sister Jane Kelly, a Ukiah nun whose disclosure of Ziemann's cover-up of a priest's theft led to the scandal that forced his resignation.

Kelly wagged her finger at Levada as she demanded to know what he had done about new reports she turned over to him of alleged misconduct among three current parish priests within the diocese. She later said he assured her he was "looking into it.''

Kelly left before the forum ended, contending Levada was refusing to deal with a moral crisis as cited by speakers Tuesday night.

The church's efforts to restore the diocese to fiscal stability, and lingering questions about the scope of the financial problems under Ziemann's seven-year tenure, faded into the background Tuesday night as defiant members of the audience challenged current church practices, including the way the church selects its bishops and continues a 1,000-year history of a male-only clergy.

Mauer was cheered again when he said the time has come for the Catholic Church to allow married priests and women in the clergy.

Ukiah stockbroker Monte Hill, a 35-year member of St. Mary's, sparked another boisterous round of applause with his call for parishioner and priest participation in the selection of a replacement for Ziemann.

"It's high time parishioners and priests participate in that process so we won't end up with the cast of characters like we just got rid of,'' Hill said.

Levada and Monsignor John Brenkle, a Napa Valley priest who is temporarily in charge of the diocese's efforts to get out from under a staggering debt, seemed surprised and dismayed by the intensity of some of the remarks.

Levada began the forum, the second of a series this week in parishes throughout the 140,000-member diocese, by acknowledging that the Ukiah church has been center of discontent since disclosure a year ago of Ziemann's cover-up of a 1996 theft of church money by the Rev. Jorge Hume Salas.

Ziemann later admitted that for the next two years he engaged in a sexual relationship with the priest, who contends he was coerced in return for the bishop's silence. Ziemann has contended the sex was consensual.

But Levada offered no apologies for what occurred. He told the audience that he has visited with Ziemann "a couple of times'' and talked with him "numerous times'' since Ziemann stepped down and entered a treatment program.

Brenkle also defended Ziemann, saying that while he has experienced anger and frustration about his actions, he still "greatly admires'' him.

Levada's and Brenkle's stance on behalf of Ziemann seemed to shift the crowd's attention from what is being done about the diocese's financial woes to how misconduct within the church hierarchy is handled.

Some parishioners suggested that not even the best financial safeguards that church leaders might put in place can make up for what they see as a greater crisis stemming from years of sexual and financial misconduct among the clergy.

"I'm too much of a pragmatist for healing. I need to know how you could have allowed priests who were pedophiles to consecrate the body and blood of Christ despite what they may have done the night before,'' said Russ Libert of St. Mary's.

Levada agreed that "perhaps there's been no greater shame for the church than the revelations of the past 10-20 years.''

But Levada said the church is dealing with the problems, which he believes have received too much attention. He cited as an example recent news reports that 400 or more priests in the United States may be infected with AIDS. "From what I read, I don't think those conclusions were supported by the facts,'' said Levada.

Levada admonished critics of Ziemann to not let the scandal that forced his resignation test their faith, nor lead them to demand a say in the selection of his replacement. Instead, Levada said, parishioners should "prepare our own hearts to receive a new bishop.''

Brenkle said the media has made too much of the church's problems. "It seems like the Catholic Church is fair game for bashing by the media,'' he said.