Robert W. McElroy

His Excellency, The Most Reverend
Robert Walter McElroy
STD PhD STL D.D.
Bishop of San Diego
Church Catholic Church
Diocese San Diego
Appointed March 23, 2015
Installed April 15, 2015
Predecessor Cirilo Flores
Orders
Ordination April 12, 1980
by John Raphael Quinn
Consecration September 7, 2010
by George Hugh Niederauer, Archbishop of San Francisco, John R. Quinn, and John Charles Wester
Personal details
Born (1954-02-05) February 5, 1954
San Francisco, California
Previous post Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco
Alma mater Harvard University
Pontifical Gregorian University
Stanford University
Santa Clara University
Motto DIGNITATIS HUMANAE
Styles of
Robert Walter McElroy
Reference style
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Bishop

Robert Walter McElroy (born February 5, 1954) is a Roman Catholic prelate and bishop. From 2010 through 2015 he was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, California. In 2015, he became the sixth Bishop of the San Diego Diocese. McElroy was educated by the Jesuits and writes for their official publication in the United States, America.

Early life and education

McElroy was born into a Catholic family in San Francisco, California on February 5, 1954.[1] One of five children, he was born to Walter and Roberta McElroy.[2] He grew up in San Mateo county.[3] He earned an A.B. in history from Harvard University in 1975 and a M.A. in American history from Stanford University in 1976.[4][1][3] In 1979, McElroy graduated from St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where he earned a M.Div. degree.[3][5] In 1985, McElroy obtained a S.T.L. degree from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California, with a thesis entitled, Freedom for Faith: John Courtney Murray and the Constitutional Question, 1942-1954.[1][3][4]In 1986, he obtained a S.T.D. in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy with a dissertation entitled, John Courtney Murray and the Secular Crisis: Foundations for an American Catholic Public Theology, along with a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University in 1989 with a dissertation entitled, Morality and American Foreign Policy : The Role of Moral Norms in International Affairs.[3][6]

Priesthood

On April 12, 1980, McElroy was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Raphael Quinn at St. Mary's Cathedral for the San Francisco Archdiocese.[1][3] McElroy was assigned to St. Cecilia Church in San Francisco, California. From 1982 to 1985, McElroy served as secretary to Archbishop John Quinn.[3]

From 1989 to 1995, he was parochial vicar at Saint Pius Church in Redwood City, California.[7] In 1995, Archbishop Quinn appointed McElroy to be Vicar General of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, an office he held under Archbishop Quinn and Cardinal William Levada until 1997.[5][7][3] In 1996, McElroy was made a Honorary Prelate of His Holiness by Pope John Paul II.[3] From 1997 to 2010, McElroy served as the pastor of St. Gregory Church in San Mateo, California.[2][4][5][3]

As a priest, McElroy authored The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray (Paulist Press, 1989) and Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs (Princeton University Press, 1992). He has written four articles for America magazine, a Jesuit magazine.[7][3]

In 2005, he published an essay on the denial of the Eucharist to public officials because of their political positions. He criticized those who adopt what he called the "sanctions position" for a lack of "pastoral solicitude", noted the expansion of grounds for sanctions from abortion to euthanasia and other issues by one diocese or another, questioned the lack of clarity as to what behavior triggers sanctions, and cited the occasions when Pope John Paul II distributed communion to political leaders who favored legalized abortion. He proposed that the church's traditional "theology of scandal" should be invoked rather than employing Eucharistic practice as a means of discipline. He warned that imposing sanctions on individuals harms the church by appearing coercive, strengthens the argument of abortion advocates that the church is attempting to impose its religious beliefs on society at large, downplays the breadth of the church's social agenda, and tends to "cast the church as a partisan actor in the American political system."[8]

He taught ethics at St. Patrick's Seminary and was guest professor of social ethics at the University of San Francisco in the Fall of 2008.

Episcopal career

Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco

On July 6, 2010, McElroy was appointed an auxiliary bishop for San Francisco and titular Bishop of Gemellae in Byzacena by Pope Benedict XVI. On September 7, 2010, McElroy received his episcopal consecration from Archbishop George Hugh Niederauer of San Francisco, with Archbishop Emeritus John Raphael Quinn of San Francisco and Bishop John Charles Wester of Salt Lake City serving as co-consecrators.[9] As auxiliary bishop, McElroy was the Archdiocesan Vicar for Parish Life and Development.[2]

Writing in America in 2014, he argued that the emphasis of Pope Francis on inequality in Catholic social teaching

did not go over well with many American Catholics, who criticized his statement for being radical, simplistic, and confusing. This rebuff stands in stark and telling contrast to the otherwise enthusiastic reception the new pope has met with in the United States. From the moment of his election, Pope Francis has captured the attention of the American people with his message and manner, even as he has challenged us all to deep renewal and reform in our lives. Americans take heart in the pope’s call to build an ecclesiastical culture that casts off judgmentalism; they applaud structural reforms at the Vatican; and they admire Francis’s continuing focus on the pastoral needs of ordinary men and women.[10]

Bishop of San Diego

On March 3, 2015, McElroy was appointed the sixth Bishop of San Diego by Pope Francis, succeeding the late Bishop Cirilo Flores. The diocese serves about one million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties.[11] His installation took place on April 15, 2015, at St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church.[12][13]

McElroy is widely regarded as a supporter of the progressive policies of Pope Francis.[14] He has written frequently and extensively on social inequelity and the Church's social justice mission.[4][15] In his first public appearance in San Diego, he pledged to champion the cause of the homeless; to support comprehensive immigration reform; and to ban anyone who has abused minors from serving in the clergy or other employment in the diocese.[16]

McElroy is currently the vice-president of the California Catholic Conference and serves at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the administrative committee, the ecumenical committee, the committee on domestic justice and the committee on international affairs.[2]

In 2017 he preached at the funeral of Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco.[17]

McElroy, like most members of the Church hierarchy, including Pope Francis and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has opposed plans by U.S. President Donald Trump to a build a wall along the Mexico–United States border to limit illegal immigration. In March 2018, Trump visited California to view prototypes for the wall. After the visit, McElroy said, "It is a sad day for our country when we trade the majestic, hope-filled symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for an ineffective and grotesque wall, which both displays and inflames the ethnic and cultural divisions that have long been the underside of our national history."[18]

In 2016, McElroy received a letter from psychotherapist and clerical sex abuse expert Richard Sipe discussing sexual misconduct by retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. McElroy did not act on the letter.[19] McCarrick's alleged actions became public knowledge in June 2018 and he was removed from public ministry after they were deemed credible by the Vatican.[20] After it became known in August that McElroy had been notified two years prior, he said that nothing could be done because of an inability to determine whether the allegations were credible.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Pope Appoints Robert W. McElroy, Advocate for the Poor, as bishop of San Diego". America Magazine. March 3, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Diocese of San Diego". www.sdcatholic.org. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Service, Catholic News (March 4, 2015). "San Diego Diocese to be headed by California native Bishop McElroy". The Catholic Sun. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Pope Francis sends 'social justice' bishop to San Diego". Crux. March 2, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 "Pope Names San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop McElroy New Bishop of San Diego". www.usccb.org. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Morality and American foreign policy : the role of moral norms in international affairs".
  7. 1 2 3 Rowe, Peter. "Pope's champion to lead local Catholics". sandiegouniontribune.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  8. ↑ McElroy, Robert W. (January 31, 2005). "Prudence and Eucharistic Sanctions". America. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Bishop Robert Walter McElroy". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Market Assumptions". America.
  11. ↑ "Pope's champion to lead local Catholics". UT San Diego. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  12. ↑ http://www.stocsd.org/event/713139-2015-04-15-installation-of-bishop-mcelroy/
  13. ↑ "Pope Francis to send 'social justice' bishop to San Diego". Crux. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  14. ↑ Rowe, Peter (March 3, 2015). "Pope's champion to lead local Catholics". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  15. ↑ "In California, two bishops strike different chords". Crux. April 16, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  16. ↑ Rowe, Peter (March 4, 2015). "New bishop for San Diego". San Diego Union Tribune.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Guidos, Rhina (March 14, 2018). "Trump looks at prototypes for border wall that bishop calls 'grotesque'". Catholic News Service. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  19. 1 2 McElwee, Joshua J. (August 17, 2018). "San Diego bishop responds to survivor advocate letter that alleged abuse by McCarrick". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  20. ↑ Sisak, Michael R. (June 20, 2018). "Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop, removed from ministry after sex abuse reports". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Cirilo Flores		 Bishop of San Diego
2015–present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
-		 Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco
2010-2015		 Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
Wilson Tadeu Jönck		 — TITULAR —
Bishop of Gemellae in Byzacena
2010–2015		 Vacant
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