WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com
Many readers have encouraged me to indulge in a so-called “field day” with the circumstances of Bishop Robert J. McManus’s unfortunate arrest for drunken driving in Rhode Island.
Some misguided folks have assumed that I would take perverse glee in the news that the local diocese’s moral and spiritual leader was bagged last weekend for having one too many in, of all places, Narragansett. Some believed that I would find such an incident irresistible, given that the bishop rarely hesitates to pass stern judgment on the perceived foibles of others.
One local wag even suggested that I refer to the bishop as Robert “Manhattan” McManus, which I refuse to do partly out of respect, but mainly because the moniker isn’t all that funny and I trust we could do better.
Truly, I take no pleasure in the arrest of the potted prelate, which is obviously humiliating, even before someone gets their hands on his mug shot. (My money’s on the Providence Journal). Although he’s the bishop, Robert McManus is also vulnerable to human failings, and he’s certainly not infallible like the pope or Warren Buffett.
Besides, let’s be honest. How many of us have tipped a couple of drinks before getting behind the wheel, even though we know it’s wrong? How many of us, upon hearing about a drunken driving arrest, have privately thought — there but for the grace of God, go I? How many of us, particularly among members of the Worcester City Council, keep local lawyer Michael Monopoli on speed dial?
And that’s just the secular folks. If I were the celibate head of a long-repressed, scandal-plagued institution that still insists on banning birth control, women priests, and gay people, I’d be eager to knock back a few myself.
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