For Rochester, Rome Declares Matano Law – Vt. Prelate to Upstate Post (detailed info)

Whispers in the Loggia ^ | November 6, 2013 | Rocco Palmo

[NYer]

Capping weeks of speculation surrounding Bishop Salvatore Matano, at Roman Noon this Wednesday the Pope named the 67 year-old prelate – head of Vermont's statewide diocese of Burlington since 2005 – as bishop of Rochester.

In the upstate New York post, the Providence-born, Rome-trained canonist succeeds Bishop Matthew Clark, who led the 320,000-member diocese for 33 years – a length of tenure practically unheard of in recent times – until his retirement was accepted last September, two months after his 75th birthday.

While Rochester under Clark had been an outlier among Northeastern dioceses in its normative embrace of a progressive post-Conciliar ecclesiology, as was universally expected, the incoming bishop comes from a rather different cloth... so much so that Matano was believed to be a favored choice of his Roman classmate, now-Cardinal Raymond Burke, to replace Burke in St Louis on his 2008 transfer to Rome as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. Accordingly, much like last week's appointment of the now Bishop Leonard Blair to the archbishopric of Hartford, the choice of a fairly conservative figure with an extensive background in law and administration will be seen in some quarters as a clash with the prevailing "Francis narrative" in the wider discourse.

A longtime veteran of One Cathedral Square – the Rhode Island Chancery, where he capped his service as vicar-general – Matano spent two tours of duty as a local aide at the Washington Nunciature before his appointment to Vermont as coadjutor in early 2005. Ordained in Burlington on the very afternoon of B16's election, much of the bishop's tenure has been taken up with the legal and financial fallout of  scores of clergy sex-abuse lawsuits, the settlements of which have spurred the diocese to sell off extensive swaths of its real estate holdings – including its Chancery – to pay for the claims while avoiding bankruptcy. While a 2010 settlement for 26 suits totaled $17.6 million, the amount of another agreement to close 11 cases earlier this year was not disclosed.

After reports of recent meetings with Cardinal Seán O'Malley (on top of being the North American member of the "C-8," the metropolitan responsible for Vermont) and the Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò – who was said to have flown into Burlington over the last month – Matano was initially buzzed about for the Connecticut seat before its announcement last week, or even a Curial post given his sterling legal acumen. Now, those conversations can be seen as evidence of the delicacy and import with which at least some in Rome view this appointment.

As today's transfer leaves the number of vacant US Latin-church sees at ten, the number of (arch)bishop-ordinaries serving past the retirement age is now at five following last week's 75th birthday of Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany – the last of the "Jadot bishops" in active service – who's led the eldest Upstate diocese since 1977, when the native son was named at 38.

[NYer]

Congratulations to all catholics in the Diocese of Rochester!! After 30 years of waiting, your prayers have been answered. Please continue to pray for the catholics in Albany.

[oh8eleven]

After 30 years of waiting, your prayers have been answered.
Sorry, no one left to hear the answer.

[rochester_veteran]

Great news! Bishop Matano is a keeper!

[livius]

I think Hubbard just reached the magic age, didn’t he?

[rochester_veteran]

I think Hubbard just reached the magic age, didn’t he?

Yes, Hubbard is turning 75.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"...following last week's 75th birthday of Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany – the last of the "Jadot bishops" in active service..."

The last of the Jadot bishops? Break out the bubbly...

[Salvation]

BTTT!

A canonist sounds like a good choice here.

[Straight Vermonter]

Well, I have to say I am extremely disappointed. While this is a great day for Rochester it’s yet another blow to the Church in Vermont.

[Straight Vermonter]

Great news! Bishop Matano is a keeper!

I wish he was. Ha-ha.

He's a good man and he say the TLM beautifully.

[livius]

Exactly. Jadot did enormous damage to the Church with his “boy bishops.”

[livius]

Oh, I bet there’s another good one lined up for you. I think this new nuncio (actually, like the last one, who unfortunately died about a year ago) has got his priorities.

And that would be straightening up the Church in the US.

[icwhatudo]

” Archbishop Jadot submitted lists of three nominees for each opening as a bishop, as was customary. In almost all instances, Pope Paul VI chose the one nominee whom Archbishop Jadot indicated he preferred, Dr. Dick said.

The result was that he was responsible for the appointments of more than 100 new bishops, Dr. Dick said.

At one time, Dr. Dick said, more than a third of all American bishops were Archbishop Jadot’s choices. They were called “Jadot’s boys.”

With time, conservative bishops appointed under the papacy of John Paul II largely replaced “Jadot’s boys.” But some critics still say that the church’s sex scandals are linked to appointments made by Archbishop Jadot, saying they were ill advised.

Dr. Dick, who discussed the subject with Archbishop Jadot, responded in the interview that the scandals surprised and saddened the archbishop but that he accepted no blame for them. “

[piusv]

Vermont is the least religious state in the US. I wonder if there is any data on Bishop Matano’s effectiveness in the Catholic portion of Vermont.

http://www.gallup.com/video/160433/editor-chief-insights-nonreligious-new-england.aspx