Salvatore R. Matano Introduced As Rochester's Next Bishop
By Sean Dobbin
Saying that his first priority in Rochester would be to bring people back to Mass, Bishop Salvatore Matano implored disenfranchised Catholics to return to the church. “Come home. We miss you. Come home. The Lord is awaiting. Come home. Because again, his arms will be open,” he said. Matano, 67, who currently serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, Vt., has been selected by Pope Francis to become the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. He will be officially installed on Jan. 3. The move appears to be a promotion of sorts — the Diocese of Rochester has about 350,000 people who identify themselves as Catholic, or about three times as many as those in the Diocese of Burlington. But for Matano, it’s also a fresh start, as his new home will provide some distance from the sexual abuse litigation that plagued the Diocese of Burlington during his tenure. At a news conference on Wednesday morning, Matano spoke slowly and softly, thanking the local leadership for their guidance and offering a few words about Saint John Fisher, the bishop executed by Henry VIII. And throughout his remarks, he managed to crack a few jokes, which pleased the small audience that had gathered in the diocesan headquarters in Gates. “When he says he looks to the popes … JP2 and Francis and Benedict in his own way, they looked to convey the joy of Christ,” said Ryan Tomko, 26, a seminarian who resides at the Becket Hall in Rochester. “He’s joy-filled, and that’s what we need right now,” said David Fiorito, 22, who is also a Becket Hall resident. “A lot of the dioceses that are growing now, either organically or coming back, they have bishops like this, who are dynamic and engaging and very loyal to the church.” Looking back Early in his remarks Matano addressed the sexual abuse scandal, which was more damaging to the church’s finances and reputation in the Diocese of Burlington than elsewhere. “Much of my administration was dealing with these situations,” he said. “It has been a very, very painful time, a very painful time for the victims and all affected by this crisis. I want to take this opportunity again to apologize (to) the victims of sexual abuse for what they’ve endured at the hands of those who they trusted. I pray I handled those circumstances as best I could.” The abuse allegations all stem from instances that took place decades before Matano arrived in Vermont in 2005. But critics say that under Matano’s watch, the Diocese of Burlington steadfastly refused to publicly identify many of the priests who were stripped of their duties due to credible sexual abuse complaints. Some of those priests still collect retirement benefits from the church. “I remember thinking that the only thing that’s more (upsetting) than me being molested repeatedly at age 11 … is that the money my dad puts in the collection basket goes to pay the retirement benefits of pedophiles and child rapists,” said David Navari, who was awarded more than $3 million in a 2008 case. “They’re not on sex offender crime lists. Because of the statute of limitations, you can’t legally go after these people,” said Navari, who now lives in the Washington, D.C., area. “But if that person happens to be living in the community, then at least the parents would know.” In June 2012, a month before Bishop Clark’s retirement, the Diocese of Rochester published the names of the 23 priests that had been removed from ministry over the past 10 years due to credible complaints of sexual abuse. As in Burlington, some of those priests still receive retirement benefits. In total, during Matano’s tenure, the diocese paid $30.1 million in settlements and awards stemming from sexual abuse cases, said Jerome O’Neill, a Burlington-based personal injury attorney who represented several plaintiffs in those cases. As a result, Matano took several steps to avoid a diocesan bankruptcy as a result of the settlements, with the most drastic being the sale of the 125-year-old diocesan headquarters, which brought in $10 million. O’Neill, who represented Navari, said that he never doubted for a minute that Matano sympathized with the victims. But with Matano at the helm, O’Neill said that the Diocese of Burlington was “by far the most litigious diocese in the country,” taking an unusually high number of sexual abuse cases to trial. Beyond a desire to bring people back to Mass, Matano did not mention many specifics as to his plans for Rochester, which he said he was visiting for the first time. “The way times change so rapidly now, few have a strategic plan for five minutes,” he quipped. In coming to Rochester, he will join a diocese that is similar to that of the Diocese of Burlington in a handful of ways. Though the Diocese of Rochester has about three times as many people who identify themselves as Catholic, both dioceses have had to close down some of their Catholic schools in recent years, and both have taken efforts to boost sagging enrollment in the priesthood. One significant difference is that the Rochester diocese has done better in terms of retaining Catholics in recent years. According to statistics from the Annuario Pontificio, the annual directory of the Holy See, 22.7 percent of residents in the 12-county Rochester diocese identified themselves as Catholic in 2011, only a shade below the 23 percent who did so in 2001. In the Diocese of Burlington, only 19 percent of diocesan residents identified themselves as Catholic in 2012, down from 24.6 percent in 2001. Additionally, Matano is inheriting a diocese that many believe to be one of the most progressive in the country. On Wednesday, outside his press conference, a woman waved signs at passing street cars urging the church to allow for the ordination of women. “I’m here to welcome the bishop and let him know that I’m praying for him, but I’m also here to let him know that there are a lot of people here who support women’s ordination,” said Marilu Aguilar, 66, of Rochester. Asked about the role of women in the church, Matano said he supported the church’s teachings. However, he also named several leadership roles in the Diocese of Burlington that were occupied by women — the director of Catholic charities, the director of Catholic schools, and the director of human resources — and said in relationships and in the church, men and women can complement one another wonderfully. In regards to the controversial issue, he said that he hoped that people would not allow certain disagreements with the church to be an obstacle to their ability to worship. “It can be very frustrating if we devote ourselves to seeking to change what we know is not the reality, when we can go forward in so many other ways,” he said. Matano’s statement seemed similar to one made by Pope Francis in September. Francis, speaking on the issues of abortion, gay marriage, and contraception, told America magazine: “The teaching of the church … is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.” In Rochester, Matano will now be the man who sets the tone for such conversations.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.