John Brendan McCormack (August 12, 1935 – September 21, 2021) was an American prelate of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He served as the ninth

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the Diocese of Manchester from 1998 until 2011.

Biography

Early life and education

John McCormack was born in

Winthrop, Massachusetts Winthrop is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,316 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Winthrop is an ocean-side suburban town in Greater Boston situated at the ...

, to Cornelius and Eleanor (née Noonan) McCormack. Raised in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, he attended

Boston College High School Boston College High School (also known as BC High) is an all-male, Society of Jesus, Jesuit, Catholic Church, Catholic College-preparatory school, college-preparatory day school in the Columbia Point, Boston, Columbia Point neighborhood of Dorche ...

and St. John's Seminary.

Ordination and ministry

McCormack was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood by Cardinal

Richard Cushing Richard James Cushing (August 24, 1895 – November 2, 1970) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder ...

on February 2, 1960, and then served as an associate pastor a
St. James Parish
in Salem. He was the executive director of North Shore

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spir ...

Center in Peabody from 1967 to 1981. During this time, he also pursued his

graduate studies Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, from where he obtained a Master's degree in social work in 1969. In 1981 he was appointed

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

o
Immaculate Conception Parish
in Malden. In 1984 he became

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

for Ministerial Personnel in the

Archdiocese of Boston The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its mother church is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston), Cathedral o ...

. In this position, McCormack was Cardinal

Bernard Francis Law Bernard Francis Cardinal Law (November 4, 1931 – December 20, 2017) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who, among other offices, served as Archbishop of Boston from 1984 to 2002. Originally considered an influential voice a ...

's point person on hearing complaints against priests accused of sexual misconduct and removing some of them from active duty. He was made pastor o
St. Francis Xavier Parish
in Weymouth in 1994.

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, Massachusetts

On November 21, 1995, McCormack was appointed

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Boston and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of ''Cerbali'' by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

on the following December 27 from Cardinal Law, with Cardinal

William Wakefield Baum William Wakefield Baum (November 21, 1926 – July 23, 2015) was an American Catholic prelate who served as bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri (1970 to 1973) and archbishop of Washington in the District of Columbia (1973 to 1980 ...

and Bishop Alfred Clifton Hughes serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

. He chose for his episcopal

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

: "Christ in all things." As an auxiliary, he served as regional bishop for the South Region of the Archdiocese.

Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire

Senator Bob Smith with Bishop John McCormack

McCormack was later named the ninth

Bishop of Manchester The Bishop of Manchester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.) The current bishop is David Walker (Bishop of Manchester), David Walker who w ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, on July 21, 1998, succeeding the late Leo O'Neil. He was formally installed on September 22, 1998. In early 2002, McCormack publicly announced the names of 14 priests in the diocese who had been accused of sexually abusing children (cf Sexual abuse scandal in Manchester diocese). In 2003, the diocese reached a settlement with the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, which was investigating the child sex abuse scandal. The settlement spared the diocese from being criminally charged. In all, in the period of 2002–03, the diocese agreed to a $15.5 million settlement involving 176 claims of sex abuse. The May 2003 settlement of 61 abuse claims for $6.5 million handled by Manchester attorney Ovide M. Lamontagne as counsel for the Manchester Diocese prevented the diocese from being criminally prosecuted. In December 2002, the diocese had admitted that its failure to protect children from sexual abuse may have been a violation of criminal law, becoming the first diocese in the United States to do so. Under threat of indictment by the New Hampshire Attorney General, McCormack signed an agreement acknowledging that the Attorney General office possessed evidence sufficient to win convictions as part of the settlement. Lamontagne claimed that McCormack and other prominent church members wanted a speedy settlement and, in an example of behaving "pastorally" rather than as a litigant, instructed their attorneys to take a moderate stance and eschew hardline legal tactics. Lamontagne said of the diocese's legal strategy, "That is not typical in terms of client requests."

Retirement and death

On August 10, 2010, in accordance with canon 401 §1 of the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of Ecclesiastical Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

, Bishop McCormack submitted his resignation to

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

as bishop of the Diocese of Manchester. His resignation was accepted on Monday, September 19, 2011, when

appointed then-Auxiliary Bishop

Peter Anthony Libasci Peter Anthony Libasci (born November 9, 1951) is an American Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Manchester since 2011. Libasci previously served as an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Rockville Centre from 2007 to 2011. Libasci is ...

of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre The Diocese of Rockville Centre () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the Long Island region of New York State in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

, New York, as his successor. McCormack died in Manchester, New Hampshire on September 21, 2021, at the age of 86.Retired Diocese of Manchester Bishop John McCormack dies
/ref>

References

Works cited

External links

Profile at The Diocese of Manchester website
* ttp://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070505/NEWS02/205050330/-1/HOME Nashua (NH) Telegraph: Catholic Church abuse policies need workbr>PBS Frontline "Hand of God"Roman Catholic Archdiocese of BostonRoman Catholic Diocese of Manchester

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormack, John Brendan 1935 births 2021 deaths People from Winthrop, Massachusetts Saint John's Seminary (Massachusetts) alumni Boston College Graduate School of Social Work alumni Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Roman Catholic bishops of Manchester 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Religious leaders from Massachusetts Boston College High School alumni Catholics from Massachusetts