Bishop-elect knocks politicians

By Matt O'Brien, Sentinel and Enterprise

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The bishop-elect of the Worcester Diocese wants to make certain every priest, parishioner, and Catholic politician in the county understands precisely what it means to be a Catholic.
"Rejecting that teaching can have certain spiritual consequences," said Bishop Robert J. McManus, who views his new role as a way to help solidify authentic Catholic identity.

McManus said he also wants local Catholic politicians to know when they stray from church teaching, especially on issues that have the highest "moral valence."

"The most fundamental human right is the right to life, and it is most obviously attacked by abortion," McManus said. "You become complicit in doing evil, and that's a very serious matter."

During the 1984 presidential election, he said he watched as some "rabidly pro-abortion" Catholic politicians, such as Geraldine Ferraro and Mario Cuomo, called into question their commitment to the church.

McManus traveled to the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and wrote a 500-page thesis on the relationship between the church and Catholic politicians in America.

His conclusion: For a public official to say he or she is "personally opposed" to an issue, such as abortion, but promote any policy that deviates from that belief, is "absolutely unacceptable."

McManus, 52, is the auxiliary bishop of Providence, and will be installed on Friday to replace retiring Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, 75.

He said during an interview in his native city that he hopes to inspire the faithful in the diocese by encouraging "psychologically and emotionally sound men" to enter the priesthood.

"One of my main concerns in Worcester is I really am going to put a lot of my efforts into promoting vocations into the priesthood," McManus said. "The vibrancy of a parish, the vibrancy of a church, depends on a vibrant priesthood."

He said he grew up in a strong city parish of 3,000 members, where young priests inspired him to enter a part-time high school seminary.

"They were the heroes of our parish. They were our heroes, our mentors," McManus said. "They played a tremendous role in our lives."

But McManus said by the time he entered a college-level seminary, he saw changes that were not always for the better.

He said some would-be priests in the 1960s took the Second Vatican Council's emphasis on personal responsibility and self-direction the wrong way.

"Some of that change led to confusion, or some indecision," McManus said. "I think some people misinterpreted the de-emphasis of regimentation and the re-emphasis of self-education as permissiveness."

He said many priests who entered the priesthood were not committed to uncompromising celibacy because they were "acting out a stunted homosexuality."

McManus is now rector of a seminary in the Providence Diocese, and says the church has improved the way it screens men who wish to become priests.

"Vocation is a grace from God. I don't pass out vocations like my business card," McManus said.
He hope to create in Worcester County "a context that contributes" to an atmosphere where it is possible for a young man to want to become a priest.

"Can a heterosexual man do that? Yes. Can a homosexual man do that? Yes," McManus said.
But he said for gay seminarians, the all-male seminary life "might make his commitment to celibate chastity a little more difficult."

"For priests to be effective as a priest, he really has to have a good, strong, well-balanced, well-integrated human personality," McManus said.

"You have to be able to present yourself with authenticity about who you are, and part of that is your sexuality."

McManus also said it's even more important for priests to follow and support the church's teachings.
"You wouldn't be hired by IBM if you didn't believe in the quality of the product," he said.

He said he would not comment on the Rev. Richard Lewandowski, of St. Camillus de Lellis Church in Fitchburg, who has spoken out against some of the church's political efforts against gay marriage.
McManus called gay marriage an "oxymoron," but said he would like to speak with the pastor before judging his opinions.

"Any public dissent from (Catholic) teaching is completely unacceptable," he said.
McManus said he believes it was a "very wise decision" for Bishop Daniel Reilly to cluster every parish in the diocese into groups that "buoy each other up."

The Worcester Diocese has not yet faced the kind of church closures now happening in the archdiocese of Boston.

"It makes sense," McManus said. "We have three parishes in one square mile serving a fraction of parishioners that single parishes did (many years ago)."

He said he would also continue to sit on the diocesan committee that reviewed sexual abuse cases under Reilly's tenure.

He sat on a similar committee in the Providence Diocese, and said he is experienced with the issue, though still does not fully understand what causes priests to stray.

He had to address the parishioners of an East Providence church when a former seminary friend, a priest in diocese, was arrested in 2001 on sexual abuse allegations.

"Sigmund Freud I ain't," McManus said. "I'm a theologian, not a psychologist. And if I knew I'd be on Oprah, making a fortune."

He said he has consulted with Monsignor Thomas Sullivan on the progress of clergy abuse cases in the diocese, but must continue to gather information after his ordination.

"I want to know exactly what the situation is and what needs to be done," he said.
McManus said he hasn't met most of the more than 100 priests in the diocese, and knows Fitchburg only by a group of nuns who once lived there.

"I don't even know how to get around the city of Worcester yet," he said. "I do know how to get to the chancery."