Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala Fathered Two Children, Resigns

From Rocco Palmo:

Meanwhile, in a surprise move, B16 has accepted the early resignation of LA Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, who turned 60 last September.

While rumors of unspecified Roman concerns over Zavala have circulated for some time, and have intensified over recent months, Catholic News Service reported this morning via Twitter that the bishop submitted his resignation after he confessed to having fathered two children.

In a letter to the Los Angeles church released early this morning, Archbishop José Gomez wrote that the auxiliary "informed [him] in early December that he is the father of two minor teenage children, who live with their mother in another state."

Since sending his resignation to Benedict shortly thereafter, Zavala "has not been in ministry and will be living privately," the archbishop said. Gomez added that the LA church has offered to assist the teens with "spiritual outreach" as well as their college costs.

While the Irish church was rocked by the 1992 revelation of a son fathered by Bishop Eamon Casey of Galway from a relationship two decades earlier with an American divorceé, and the sitting Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo likewise admitted conceiving a child during his decade as a bishop, today's disclosure is believed to be without precedent on the part of a US prelate.

Named by Blessed John Paul II at age 43 to assist Cardinal Roger Mahony in the nation's largest diocese, the Mexican-born Zavala -- until now the senior auxiliary of the 5 million-member LA fold -- had been in the final year of his term as Chair of Communications for the US bishops.

The longtime bishop-president of the Stateside branch of Pax Christi, he previously made national headlines for advocating a more progressive stance on church teaching in the public square during the 2008 elections, and with a high-profile speech that lambasted "blogs" that "engage in attacks and hurtful, judgmental language... assume the role of Magisterium and judge others in the church" during the 2010 Catholic Press Convention in New Orleans.

Reacting to the news, all one longtime friend of Zavala's among the Angeleno crowd could say was, "I'm numb."

Here below, the fulltext of Gomez's letter detailing the situation, sent this morning to the LA church's clergy and staff:
Dear Brothers and Sisters:

I have some sad and difficult information to share with you. Bishop Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, informed me in early December that he is the father of two minor teenage children, who live with their mother in another state.

Bishop Zavala also told me that he submitted his resignation to the Holy Father in Rome, which was accepted. Since that time, he has not been in ministry and will be living privately.

The Archdiocese has reached out to the mother and children to provide spiritual care as well as funding to assist the children with college costs. The family's identity is not known to the public, and I wish to respect their right to privacy.

Let us pray for all those impacted by this situation and for each other as we reflect on this letter.

May the Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, grant you peace.

Most Reverend José H. Gomez 
Archbishop of Los Angeles

1 comment:

kozz said...

What I don't understand is why the archdiocese should pay for college tuition. The children are young minors and obviously it will be a couple of years before they reach college. Since Zavala has resigned shouldn't he take full responsibility to look after his children.