"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.Posted on 05/09/2004 1:57:27 PM PDT by Coleus
Bishop-elect knocks politicians
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."
Bishop will not exclude politicians
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Catholic activist "disappointed' by McManus' Communion stance New bishop will not exclude politicians
Kathleen A. Shaw
T&G STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER- Bishop Robert J. McManus, who will become fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester on May 14, said the Vatican has issued no criteria that would exclude Catholic politicians from receiving Communion based on their public positions on so-called "life issues."
He joined with Providence Bishop Robert E. Mulvee in issuing an official statement Friday after Cardinal Francis Arinze of the Vatican Congregation of Divine Worship said political leaders who favor abortion rights should not be given Communion.
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that Communion should be denied only as a last resort.
Anti-abortion activists in this country are focusing attention on U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., a presidential candidate who still receives Communion at the Paulist Center in Boston but who has voted in favor of abortion rights.
Laurie A. Letourneau of Shrewsbury, a Catholic of the Worcester Diocese who also heads the Life Action League of Massachusetts, said yesterday she was "disappointed" that Bishop McManus is not supporting Cardinal Arinze.
Ms. Letourneau's position is that Communion should be denied to political leaders, including Mr. Kerry or other Catholics who are opposed to teachings of the Catholic Church on abortion, homosexuality and other issues. She said bishops who fail to act will have "to answer to God for their cowardice."
"The problem is these bishops are too afraid of losing the almighty dollar and causing a split in the church. The bishops have been causing a scandal in the Catholic Church and causing folks to lose faith because of their inability to stand up for the teachings of the church," she said.
A document issued by Pope John Paul II late last week called The Sacrament of Redemption "does not specifically address any criteria for excluding Catholic politicians from the reception of the Eucharist based upon their position on life issues," Bishops McManus and Mulvee said.
"The document itself clearly states "Sacred Ministers may not deny the Sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.' Such matters are decided by bishops in conformity with Canon Law and other documents of the Holy See," they said.
The bishops said that Cardinal Arinze, in response to questions at a press conference in Rome, said the American bishops must decide the issue. The American bishops have set up a committee to study the issue and no conclusions have been presented to the bishops for consideration, they said.
Ms. Letourneau does not accept the reasoning that the bishop's committee, headed by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of the Washington, D.C., Archdiocese, has not completed its work. Ms. Letourneau said it is "generally known" that Cardinal McCarrick is friendly with U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., also a Catholic whose pro-abortion record has been criticized by anti-abortion activists.
"The idea that bishops have to wait for a committee to come up to a solution is absurd. They should try reading the Catechism and stop being cowards and be men of the cloth," she said.
Cardinal Arinze, a Nigerian who has a long history of service at the Vatican, is frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for pope in the next conclave.
Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley has said that Mr. Kerry, a lifelong Catholic who favors abortion rights and lives in the Boston Archdiocese, should refrain from Communion but he has not banned the Democratic presidential candidate from the Communion rail.
Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the Worcester Diocese, said the diocese has had a policy of not denying Communion to any Catholic who wants to receive it. Guidelines on receiving the sacrament are frequently posted in parish bulletins, he said. Based on comments by Bishop McManus, Mr. Delisle said he expects no changes in the policy. He added that Worcester is also awaiting a decision from a committee of American bishops who are studying the issues of Catholic political leaders and the sacraments.
As Bishop McManus, now auxiliary bishop of Providence, winds up his tenure in Providence, a farewell Mass will be held at 7 p.m. May 4 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Providence. Invitations have gone out for his formal installation in Worcester scheduled for 2 p.m. May 14 at St. Paul's Cathedral.
The Bishop almost ceratinly knows, however, that no matter what these elitists might say in public, they actually believe what the church requires. So, Kennedy and Kerry don't actually believe in abortion, they just say they do because, well, they are lying dem politicians. I'm sure the Bishop understand the nuances.
If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
Until that, what part of "no remaining moral authority" do these bufoons not understand?
PS I'm strongly pro-life. We're better off if the church leaders would just stay out of it until every Catholic child is safe from the perverts.
The bishop would admit that "the Vatican" issued the Code of Canon Law, wouldn't he? And doesn't Canon 915 say that those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin "are not to be admitted" to Holy Communion? I could be wrong, but that sure seems like a "criterion issued by the Vatican" to me!
Which one? HC?
So far, so good.
Watchful waiting.
Eager participants?
You have no earthly idea what you're talking about.
Let's not forget the at least two who are dead...the car accident victim who was with a pervert the family trusted and that one who was found dead a few months ago.
I didn't know there was precedence in mortal sin.
Like I typed, I'm extremely pro-life...I just don't see how an organization that has some members of the hierarchy that lets this happens is the group I want defending these views.
History will never forgive the Church until it gets its priorities in order.
History will never forgive the Church. Money to the victims is not absolution. The Church has to start over and try to regain moral authority. It's tragic that it was relinquished when the world is so in need of a strong, non-hypocritical moral authority.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.