Cardinal Wuerl’s Name Removed From School Amid Church Abuse Scandal

The board of directors at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School has accepted Cardinal Wuerl’s request to have his name removed from the school, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced in a statement. The school is to be renamed North Catholic High School after Wuerl was accused last week in a grand-jury report of helping conceal child sexual abuse within the Pennsylvania Catholic Church while he was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1998 to 2006. He is now the archbishop of Washington. “In light of the circumstances today and lest we in any way detract from the purpose of Catholic education...I respectfully ask you to remove my name from it,” Wuerl wrote in a letter to the school on August 16. “In this way, there should be no distraction from the great success of the school and, most importantly, the reason for the school—the students.” A sign at the front of the school was defaced shortly after the grand-jury report, with Wuerl’s name crossed out in red spray paint.