c. 2003 Religion News Service

PHOENIX _ Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Bishop Thomas O’Brien of Phoenix on Wednesday (June 18) after O’Brien was charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident that occurred Saturday.

The Vatican gave no reason for the resignation, citing a standard policy that allows for a resignation when a bishop is “unsuited for the fulfillment of his office” because of illness or “some other grave reason.”

The pope assigned Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe, N.M., as the diocese’s interim administrator. Sheehan, in a statement to Arizona Catholics, said: “You have suffered greatly these last few months. I hope to bring healing. God’s grace will help us through this challenging time.”

At a late afternoon Phoenix news conference at diocesan headquarters, Sheehan told his new flock: “Don’t put your faith in the priest or the bishop. Put your faith in the Lord and in the sacraments of our Catholic Church. … Human weaknesses have always been there in the 2000 years of our history. … No one should leave the church because of human weakness.”

Speaking of the most immediate crisis, Sheehan said he is praying for the family of the pedestrian allegedly hit by O’Brien.

“My prayers go out to the family of the man who was killed in the automobile accident Saturday night,” he said. “I grieve with them about his death.”

He said his previous experience with taking over leadership of the Santa Fe archdiocese in the midst of allegations of sexual abuse by priests there _ which resulted in an archbishop’s resignation _ will help guide him in his role as the temporary spiritual leader of Phoenix’s Catholics.

O’Brien’s resignation comes just one day before church bishops are scheduled to gather in St. Louis on Thursday for their annual summer meeting, one year after they approved get-tough rules on sexually abusive priests.

The bishops will wrestle with the fallout from the fiery resignation of former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating as chairman of an oversight panel that monitors the bishops’ response to the abuse scandal. Keating resigned Monday after comparing some bishops’ delaying tactics to the Mafia.

Sheehan, who spoke just before heading to the St. Louis meeting, expressed confidence in the review board.

“I’m grateful for the work of the national review board and even if there’s a new chairman that has to take over, I think the work will continue,” he said.

Other pressures are also weighing on the bishops. On Tuesday, the interim leader of the Archdiocese of Boston, Bishop Richard Lennon, warned his priests that layoffs and cutbacks are likely if almost 100 churches continue to withhold money. Lennon said each of the churches owes about $15,000 to help pay down a $9.4 million budget shortfall, according to The New York Times.

The swirling storms of controversy have converged at a critical time for the bishops as they try to regain credibility with parishioners. Former religion writer David Gibson, author of the new “The Coming Catholic Church,” said the bishops are basically “back at square one.”

“Bishop O’Brien’s terrible, tragic car accident in a way has nothing to do with anything else … and yet he becomes the perfect metaphor for the way people view the bishops _ as hit-and-run drivers who leave their victims and head on without punishment.”

In a statement issued Wednesday, O’Brien said he submitted his resignation “with a heavy heart and great sorrow” after more than 20 years of leadership.

“This past year has been very painful,” he said. “It became apparent that as long as I remained bishop, the focus of the news media would be on me and not the church and her people.”

He thanked the Catholics of the diocese for their prayers and said he supports them, even those who were disappointed in his recent leadership.

“My heart is aching, but I felt I needed to step aside for you, the Catholic people, to allow the diocese to heal from what has been a painful time in our history,” he said.

O’Brien had already gained notoriety for a deal he signed two weeks ago with local prosecutors in which he agreed to cede much of his authority in exchange for avoiding criminal charges for his handling of abusive priests.

A pedestrian, Jim Reed, was killed Saturday crossing a Phoenix street and witnesses gave police a partial tag number that was later traced to O’Brien’s car. When investigators arrived at O’Brien’s house, they found the windshield of his car shattered and caved in.

O’Brien told police then that he thought he had hit a dog or a cat or someone had thrown a rock at his car.

O’Brien was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, a felony, and could be charged with obstruction of justice for attempting to have the windshield replaced without notifying police.

In a statement for O’Brien’s family, the bishop’s nephew, Jim Dearying, expressed sympathy for the victim’s family. “We are so sorry for their pain and loss. This is a horrible tragedy for everyone _ the Reed family, our family, the bishop and the entire Catholic community,” he said.

(Peggy Polk at the Vatican contributed to this story)

DEA END ECKSTROM