The Danger of Uncharitable Speculation
The fact that there is intense speculation about the identity of the next Archbishop of Los Angeles in Catholic circles in California is not a Catholic oddity. Since the first century Christians have been speculating about, "Who will be the next bishop of
x?" In and of itself, it's not impious for Christians to wonder who will be appointed their shepherd in the future--it's natural to think about such things.
I hasten to add though that such speculation can (and has) been carried out in ways that are sometimes harmful and uncharitable. I
certainly do not want to be guilty of such a thing. The bottom line is this: any man who gives up the opportunity to have a family of his own but rather seeks to serve as a spiritual father to others has my undying gratitude. I may not understand everything they do, but I recognize that (1) they have knowledge and pastoral concerns I may not be aware of (i.e., consider those who might have accused Paul for keeping kosher while being among the Jews, while breaking those laws as he ministered to the Gentiles) and (2)
I am not going to be held accountable for leading the bishops--others have been given that call (e.g., the Pope, their confessors, canonizable saints, etc.).
Who's It Going to Be?
That having been said, I can't help but wonder myself: who's it going to be?
The real answer is that it's anyone's guess. Indeed, such speculation is often wrong. Nonetheless, I thought I'd introduce the names most commonly mentioned. In his
recent post on the subject, Rocco Palmo has identified this appointment as Pope Benedict's most important American placement. Because of this people will be scrambling for information about whoever gets the nod.
After the news is out people will immediately go to
Wikipedia and the information posted about the appointment at his official Diocesan website. Yet there's a lot of good information, videos, personal stories, etc., that you have to really dig to find. Because I--like everyone else!--will be curious to know more about whoever the pope picks to succeed Cardinal Mahony, I thought I'd do a little poking around on-line and pull all of the most helpful things I find together into one place. If anything else, I saw this is a good opportunity to get to learn about some of the men who have devoted their life to the service of the Church.
A Hispanic?
One important public source reporting on the rumors is the
Los Angeles Times, which, in
a story published back in April of 2009, suggested that insiders believe that the Pope is going to pick a Latino. Now, to be fair, such an "insider" would actually have to be able to get all the way "inside" Pope Benedict's
mind to know who will get the appointment. It is, after all, the Holy Father who makes the final decision here. Given that he has gone against the conventional wisdom in making appointments in the past, it would seem difficult for even an important official to have certain knowledge about what he is going to do (unless the appointment has quietly already been made, of course).
Nonetheless, that a Hispanic will be appointed makes a certain amount of sense. The Hispanic Catholic community in the United States is extremely large. Yet, despite their large numbers, they do seem to be a bit underrepresented at the hierarchical level. Surprisingly, there are no Hispanic Cardinals in the U.S.
Since the Archbishop of Los Angeles is typically "given the red hat," appointing a Hispanic to LA would likely mean that the Hispanic community would finally see one of its own rise to the highest level of the Church's ecclesiastical hierachy. Such a pick would be especially well-received by the Hispanic community in Los Angeles, which makes up about 75% of the Catholic faithful there.
If this line of speculation is correct, the number of potential candidates for the post is narrowed down quite a bit. Moreover, the coadjutor-to-be is likely already a bishop somewhere--that is, he is probably someone who already has experience running a diocese. Furthermore, given the immense size of the Los Angelos archdiocese, it would seem likely that if a Hispanic Bishop is chosen he would likely come from a relatively large see.
Indeed, the article that ran in the
Los Angeles Times identified three particular possible candidates, who each seem to have the experience needed:
1. Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto (age 54)
2. San Antonio Archbishop José Goméz (age 58)
3. Monterey Bishop Richard John Garcia (age 62)
So here's a little introduction to these three figures.