In memory of a friendly, humble, warm and outgoing man

It has been this writer’s privilege to represent the diocese of Manchester for a large part of my legal career, and to get to know bishops from Odore Gendron to Leo O’Neill, John McCormack and now Peter Libasci, in various capacities. Uniformly, these men have been among the most educated and intelligent clients it has been my privilege to know.

Bishop John B. McCormack died on Sept. 21, after a period of failing health, at age 86. He led the Diocese from Sept. 22, 1998, until Sept. 19, 2011, when he submitted his resignation to the pope upon reaching his 75th birthday, as required. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II.

In many ways, Bishop McCormack, who prior to coming to New Hampshire had been an auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston, could seem to have been “the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place.” That is because, when the sex abuse scandal surfaced in the early 2000s, his role in Boston, where he was in charge of priest personnel, drew attention to him and Manchester. However, such a judgement would be a disservice to this fine man and to the good he did here, under trying circumstances. Under his leadership, Bishop McCormack settled with the state authorities matters concerning sex abuse issues in New Hampshire, and put in place new systems designed to prohibit such conduct in the future, detect it, and protect vulnerable children and adults.

John McCormack was a friendly, humble, warm and outgoing man. His predecessor, the popular Leo O’Neill, was a poet and philosopher who seemed happier at the bishop’s residence on River Road than in the office. McCormack, who had a number of administrative positions in Massachusetts, was more hands-on. One observation made about the two men’s styles was that Bishop O’Neill probably did not know how to run the copying machine, and Bishop McCormack was likely to do his own photocopying. Those working for the two men came to love and respect both.

When the sex abuse scandal hit his diocese as well as his former one, Mc- Cormack was drawn into a number of the cases as a defendant, due to his role in Boston. He was subpoenaed to testify in a deposition in our offices, and asked if I could pick him up. Upon my arrival at the residence, he invited me in while he was finishing breakfast. To my surprise, he said he needed advice on whether his resignation would help the diocese heal. I thought to myself that such advice might be above my pay grade, but indicated that from what I knew of him and what he believed, the Lord had placed him in his position, and if the Lord wanted him out of it, he would get some sign, and in the meantime, we should get in the car! He smiled, thanked me for reinforcing what he had concluded and off we went.

Upon arrival at the office, television cameras awaited us, and one station ran a clip of Bishop McCormack and me walking to the elevator, which ran repeatedly whenever a story about John McCormack was in the news. My devout Catholic mother-in-law took great delight in telling me she had seen me and the bishop on TV repeatedly, not realizing it was the same clip.

As an indication of how kind a pastor John McCormack was, when my motherin-law passed away, in a Massachusetts town adjacent to Medford where he had his last position as a parish priest, Bishop McCormack and his colleague Rev. Jason Jalbert, took a detour when driving to Logan Airport to attend the wake at a funeral home he had visited many times before. My wife and her father and family were touched by his kindness, and many of the friends in attendance, who knew him prior to his elevation into the hierarchy of the church, said, respectfully, “Look, there is Father McCormack,” which he appreciated and indicated was his favorite title.

He was kind, thoughtful, interesting, interested and godly. May he rest in peace!

Brad Cook is a Manchester attorney. The views expressed in this column are his own. He can be reached at bradfordcook01@gmail.com.