Worcester's Bishop Mcmanus Arrested in Ri for Drunk Driving after Hit-and-run

By Alessandro Speciale
Vatican Insider
May 6, 2013

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/catholic-bishop-arrested-for-dui

Roman Catholic Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester was arrested Saturday night in Rhode Island on suspicion of drunken driving after a hit-and-run, WPRI.com has confirmed.

McManus, 61, was charged with driving under the influence and refusing to take a chemical test, Narragansett Police Capt. Sean Corrigan confirmed. Authorities say the driver of the other vehicle called police at 10:32 p.m. and followed McManus, who was quickly arrested at his Bonnet Shores vacation home.

The bishop acknowledged his arrest in a statement issued Monday morning by the Worcester diocese.

"On Saturday evening, May 4, I made a terrible error in judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner," McManus said. "There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action."

"More importantly," he said, "I ask forgiveness from the good people whom I serve, as well as my family and friends, in the Diocese of Worcester and the Diocese of Providence."

McManus is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in Washington County District Court. He did not celebrate Mass in Worcester on Sunday, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

The three-bedroom house at 215 Col. John Gardner Rd. where McManus was arrested was built in 1970 and is valued at $476,400, according to the Narragansett assessor's office.

The seaside house is listed as being in care of McManus on behalf of his late mother, Helen (King) McManus, and the bishop's official residence in Worcester is listed as the Narragansett home's ownership address. Helen McManus died six years ago.

Police in Narragansett said the full arrest report about McManus was not available yet.

A spokesman for Bishop of Providence Thomas Tobin was not immediately available for comment.

McManus, a native Rhode Islander whose parents were Narragansett residents, had a long history in the Diocese of Providence as a pastor and a theologian before Pope John Paul II named him the fifth Bishop of Worcester in 2004.

McManus was ordained a priest in 1978 by former Auxiliary Bishop of Providence Kenneth Angell and later served St. Luke Parish in Barrington for more than a decade. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Providence from 1999 to 2004 and served as rector of Our Lady of Providence Seminary.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester covers the area of Central Massachusetts between the Diocese of Springfield and the Archdiocese of Boston. The Worcester diocese included more than 110,000 Catholic households as of last year, according to the bishop's annual report.

The bishop's arraignment comes the same week as the Feast of the Ascension - a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics - on Thursday.