[Ernie.cal]

Wallace:

Not sure if you know this but some JBS-insiders claim that John McManus has stated that Welch converted on his death bed to Feeneyite Catholicism.

[Wallace T.]

There were a lot of Catholics on the staff of the Birch Society when it was located in Massachusetts, a heavily Catholic state, as well as the base of operations of Father Feeney, a forerunner of today's Catholic traditionalists. (One source claims about one-half of the JBS staff were Catholics.) John McManus is reportedly a traditionalist Catholic, and could have been a factor in converting Welch, if he did in fact convert. McManus was the publicity director of the organization, and did for the JBS what Robert Welch did for the Welch Candy Company. As president, he was presumably Welch's chosen successor after Larry McDonald's death. It would be fair to assume that, of the senior staff of the JBS, McManus was closest to Welch.

Given the humanist, rationalist, and determinist (remember the influence of Spengler) strains in Welch's writings like The Blue Book, it seems that a conversion to Catholicism, with its doctrines of original sin, a personal, all powerful, and omniscient God, and free will, would be out of character. However, men's minds can and do change. After twenty plus years of troubles and the rise and decay of his organization, Welch may have become more receptive to the message of traditional Catholicism, especially as he faced his own mortality.

It would be interesting to read McManus's memoirs on the matter, if he ever chooses to write them, or perhaps any correspondence from Robert Welch or his wife discussing conversion to traditional Catholicism.