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CSF December 2022: Hometown Prelate
CARDINAL ROBERT W. MCELROY
BY CHRISTINA GRAY
Lead writer, Catholic San Francisco, grayc@sfarch.org
When San Diego Bishop Robert W. McElroy learned in May that Pope Francis had appointed him to the College of Cardinals — the only American among 20 new cardinal-electors — he said in a statement that he was “stunned and deeply surprised.”
Many of those who’ve known him for some or most of his 68 years are a bit less surprised. Catholic San Francisco spoke to some of them after he accepted the cardinal’s biretta on Aug. 27 at St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Years ago, we knew he’d be cardinal one day, maybe even pope,” said St. Gregory parishioner Kathy Michel, after a Mass of thanksgiving for Cardinal McElroy on Sept. 18 at St. Gregory Parish in San Mateo. It was a celebratory homecoming for the new cardinal, who served as pastor there for nearly 14 years.
Christina Wadsworth has known the McElroy family since “Bob” was a boy. She said his exceptional mix of mind and heart always set him apart.
“It’s a very rare combination to be so intelligent and to also have so much compassion for others,” said Wadsworth.
Cardinal McElroy is the fifth American to be named a cardinal by Pope Francis.
The newly appointed cardinal said he believes “forging unity” by pushing past an American worldview is one of two major roles of U.S. bishops.
The first, he said in an Aug. 27 interview with Vatican News, is to “constantly be assigned a source of unity with the Holy Father on both the doctrinal and the affective levels.” And the second “is to, particularly with the U.S., focus on the global and universal nature of the Church.”
SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMETOWN PRELATE
The story of Cardinal McElroy’s journey to the cardinalate is a profoundly local one. At the St. Gregory Mass, he thanked first his 97-year-old mother, Roberta, seated in the front pew with others in the McElroy clan.
Cardinal McElroy was born in San Francisco on Feb. 5, 1954. He attended Our Lady of Mercy School in Daly City until his family moved to Burlingame, where he attended Our Lady of Angels School.
Cardinal McElroy felt called to the priesthood at a young age and entered St. Joseph’s College Seminary (high school) in Mountain View. He later graduated from St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park.
In the 10 years that followed, he earned six academic degrees, starting with undergraduate and graduate degrees in American history from Harvard College and Stanford University, respectively. He later earned a doctorate in political science from Stanford.
In 1979, he earned his master’s of divinity from St. Patrick’s Seminary & University and was ordained to the priesthood at St. Mary’s Cathedral on April 12, 1980.
Cardinal McElroy also has a licentiate in sacred theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in Berkeley and a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
A PASTOR AT HEART
Cardinal McElroy’s first priestly assignment was to St. Cecilia Parish in San Francisco, where his parents met as schoolchildren and later married. He served Archbishop John R. Quinn as priestsecretary for three years before returning to parish life at St. Pius Parish in Redwood City as parochial vicar from 1989 to 1995. After being named vicar general for the Archdiocese in 1996 and an honorary prelate of His Holiness, St. John Paul II, he served as pastor of St. Gregory Parish from 1997 to 2010.
Parishioners and staff said he revitalized the parish, renewing sacred and social traditions, including the annual parish festival.
“He brought life, community and humor back to the parish,” said Marty Leahy, who with his wife, Mary, has been a St. Gregory parishioner since 1990.
He was an astute parish fundraiser too, said longtime front office worker Brigid Bellone.
“We used to tease him that we weren’t going to purchase the big raffle tickets anymore because he had a knack for getting the winners to donate the money back to the parish,” she said.
Barbara Gilmore has also known Cardinal McElroy “since before he was a priest.” Her mother and his mother were best friends when their families belonged to neighboring parishes in Burlingame, St. Catherine of Siena and Our Lady of Angels.
“He is the nicest, most unassuming person,” she said. He is brilliant, she agreed, but not aloof. “He speaks on the level with anyone and everyone, no matter who they are.”
A “SYNODAL” STYLE OF LEADERSHIP
Cardinal McElroy was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Francisco by Pope Benedict XVI on July 6, 2010, and was consecrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Sept. 7, 2010.
Retired Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco William J. Justice and Cardinal McElroy served together as auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese for five years.
Bishop Justice recalled noticing his leadership strengths right away in priest council meetings.
“He would speak, shall we say, very directly but very politely about things he didn’t like,” said Bishop Justice. “That is always good to have.”
On April 15, 2015, he was installed as the sixth bishop of San Diego, a role in which he now continues. He also maintains his role as president of the California Catholic Conference of bishops. His fellow bishops elected him as president of the CCC in 2019.
In a statement to Catholic San Francisco, Bishop Oscar Cantu of the Diocese of San Jose described Cardinal McElroy’s leadership capabilities as one of synodality.
“He truly believes in engaging all members of the conference, asking for their thoughts, opinions and inclinations — not just the more outspoken members,” said Bishop Cantu. “It is in hearing all voices that the promptings of the Holy Spirit become clearer, and thus prayerful discernment can take place.”
PRAYER AND REUNION
Parishioners from across the Archdiocese joined in prayer on Oct. 27 to honor Cardinal Robert McElroy, the first native son of San Francisco to be made a Cardinal. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone hosted the Cardinal for Vespers and a reception.
In his homily, Cardinal McElroy reflected upon the significance of the event, having been a seminarian in 1971 at the blessing of the new Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, being ordained and consecrated a Bishop in the same Cathedral, and now coming back to the Cathedral as a Cardinal.
“We were here to witness that ceremony, the coming together of this great Cathedral, which was such a beautiful aspiration to the heavens, linking heaven and earth in its architecture, its design and its love for God,” said Cardinal McElroy. “It is beautiful to be with you here tonight and to join you for a moment of prayer in this place.”
The Cardinal continued, “The Good Shepherd is the Responsorial Psalm that we’re going to pray in a minute, and it encapsulates the beauty of God’s love for us, which is tender and constant and caring and without reserve. I give thanks for the faith which I received in my own life from my family and from all those who helped form me….I give thanks also for so many of you whom my life has overlapped with at various points as collaborators in this great work of ours, which is the life of the Church.”
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