Interview with Archbishop Jerome Listecki [John Allen]

[Catholic_Press]

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

Ask any random sample of five people who know Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee to describe him, and the odds are good that the phrase “down to earth” will come up more than once. Affable and approachable, Listecki may be one of the few prelates who could have followed the legendarily gregarious Archbishop Timothy Dolan in Milwaukee and not seem, at least a little bit, like a stuffed shirt in comparison.

That affability doesn’t mean Listecki shirks from taking strong stands – a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Listecki has publicly chastised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her interpretation of church teaching on abortion, criticized Notre Dame for awarding an honorary doctorate to President Barack Obama, and once even warned parents not to take their kids to see “The Golden Compass” because, he said, the movie “tries to lead them away from God.”

Yet whether people agree with Listecki on content or not, most give him high marks for style, especially his “regular guy” demeanor. Whatever else one might say, Listecki clearly doesn’t have a Renaissance prince model of the bishops’ office.

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[edwest2]

I think Archbishop Listecki deserves praise for speaking up and taking a stand. In a society where both young and old get mixed messages, I think members of the Church need to reflect what we believe by doing this. And the laity is called to do this as well.

God bless,
Ed

 

[manualman]

He has a hard road ahead of him. I lived for a time in that archdiocese and still have family there. The diocesan structure is financially crippled by the sex abuse that was allowed under archbishop Weakland. The lawsuit settlements have destroyed the ability of the diocese to take strong initiatives.

On the other hand the phenomenon of Relevant Radio grew out of northern Wisconsin and is leading to a strong growth in lay lead apostolates. This may be a new model for evangelization in a world with a Church bankrupted by lawsuit lawyers.