In a letter to Pope Benedict, dated March 22, 2010, the President of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), Daniel Bartley, requested the Holy Father to require the formal participation of the laity in the Episcopal recommendation processes held at diocesan levels, preliminary to his appointment of new bishops.  In support of this request, he enclosed a document entitled “Consulting the Laity on Candidates for the Episcopacy.” Copies of both the letter and the document were forwarded to the Apostolic Nuncio and to the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. As of this date, the VOTF request awaits favorable action by the Holy See.

In the interim, aware of the request pending in Rome, members of the VOTF local affiliate in Nashua, New Hampshire, took the initiative to write to Bishop McCormack and asked him to provide opportunity for the laity to voice their recommendations on the qualifications and attributes desirable in their new bishop in order to meet the needs and opportunities in the diocese. Bishop McCormack declined to co-operate citing the canonical process managed by the Apostolic Nuncio. In spite of a clarification that the requested consultation would not supersede the required canonical process, but rather represent a parallel, complementary process, the results of which the Nuncio would surely find useful to his purposes, he continued to withhold approval.

Thereupon, on the basis of Can. 212.2 and .3, Code of Canon Law, the VOTF Nashua Affiliate elected to survey lay members of the diocese on how they see the needs and opportunities in the diocese and the qualifications and attributes desirable in the next Bishop of Manchester. The results of this survey, which was conducted over the fall period, are compiled herein and submitted to the Holy See in the hope that they will prove helpful to the Congregation for Bishops; and further, that they may suggest the benefit of promulgating for the whole Church a similar process of formal, public consultations of the laity on candidates for their bishops.

Needs and Opportunities Facing the Next Bishop of Manchester

There is a need and opportunity to foster and promote a spiritual sense of mission among the laity of the diocese in response to the culture and milieu of the contemporary American society in which we live and to which, as Christians, we are called to be a “leaven,” the “salt of the earth” and a “shining light.” The next bishop needs to address the disenchantment of a large segment of the laity who lack any significant interest in their role in the Church.

In the aftermath of the clerical sexual abuse scandal, which has rocked the faith of so many Catholics in this diocese and elsewhere, there is a critical need and opportunity to restore the confidence of the laity in the integrity of the leadership of their Church. “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.”  This diocese needs its next bishop to be fully committed to the guidelines established by the Bishops of the United States at their Dallas meeting and to the call of Pope Benedict to “do all we can” to rectify this crisis in the Church.  So, he should be a bishop with proven response to the sexual abuse crisis and who understands and responds compassionately to the needs of its victim survivors.

There is in the diocese a need and opportunity with regard to Catholic education, in which limited financial resources must be so marshaled as to meet the need of poor families as well as the middle class. Every Catholic family should have easy access to a Christian education program for their children, which will prepare them for a mission-centered life as Catholic men and women. Joined to this should be a diocesan-wide program of adult Christian education which would empower parents to carry out their role as the first preachers of the faith to their children by word and example.

In this diocese and elsewhere there is a need and opportunity for a realistic effort to address the critical shortage of priests. All the Catholic laity everywhere should have ample opportunity to celebrate their Sunday Eucharist each week as well as ready access to the other sacraments. Call for fervent prayer for vocations must be seconded by a collegial Episcopal resolve to address the scandal of ‘priest-less Sundays’ in so many parishes in this country and throughout the world.  As we grapple with this critical shortage of priests, let the practice of the Church in the days of the Apostles and of the New Testament serve as one feasible model for the Church today.

Then, those called to Holy Orders were to be “married” men who could demonstrate their suitability for ordination by how well they managed their roles as husband and father. (1Timothy, 3: 1-5; Titus 1: 5-6) Today when  mature married men hold degrees in such fields as theology, Religious Education, scripture and liturgy and are highly committed to the Church—among them married Deacons—the leadership of the Church must in prayer and with openness to the Holy Spirit, “Who breathes where He will,” take up the issue of admitting married Catholic lay men to the priesthood, at least in those areas where the Catholic people are each week deprived of their rightful access to the celebration of their Sunday Eucharist. Our next bishop, therefore, should be committed to solving this crisis of ‘priest-less Sundays’ together with his brother bishops and the Bishop of Rome. 

II. Qualifications and Attributes Desirable in the New Bishop

The next Bishop of Manchester will best rise to the challenges of his office if he is a man of God steeped in the spirit and documents of the Second Vatican Council. In closing the Jubilee Year in 2001, Pope John Paul II declared, “… feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.”

Echoing him, Pope Benedict added, “The doctrinal and pastoral abundance which it contains and –above all, its basic inspiration—have yet to be assimilated by the Christian community forty years after its ending.” (See, “Consulting the Laity on Candidates for the Episcopacy,” page 6)

The laity of this diocese hunger for a bishop who will so preach and minister to us “the great grace” of the Council that, as a Christian community, we may begin to assimilate “its basic inspiration” in the way we believe, worship and live our daily lives. The new bishop, then, should have a history of ongoing commitment to the spirit and documents of Vatican Council II and should inaugurate a diocesan-wide program of renewal at the diocesan and parish levels centered on the Council documents.

He should be a bishop who will reach out to his people, listen to them and consult with them in small and large groups. He should respect the members of the Voice of the Faithful in New Hampshire for what they are: “among the most committed Catholics and most active members of their parishes” (ibid. page 1) and should meet with them to begin an ongoing conversation on the needs and opportunities in the diocese.

On a personal level, the next Bishop of Manchester should be:

• A man of God

• A good shepherd focused on the good of his flock

• A man with humility and openness

• A man of a pro-active temperament and open to change as needed

He should be a Bishop who has extensive parish experience working with people, who will mingle with and talk with his people, listen to what they have to say and try to understand their needs. He should promote throughout the diocese a spirit and practice of transparency between clergy and people, and should encourage appropriate lay involvement in decision making at both the diocesan and parish levels.

Ideally, he would be a local cleric who knows the Diocese of Manchester, and a man who is a caring, loving person who listens to people, respects them as individual persons and, modeling his ministry on that of Jesus, can bring God’s love to them in the Good News of Jesus Christ.