Portland's George goes back to Chicago - Archbishop Francis E. George appointed to the Archdiocese of Chicago, IL - Column

National Catholic Reporter, April 18, 1997 by Tim Unsworth

Chicago -- Archbishop Francis Eugene George, who soon is likely to be a prince of the church, a cardinal, is a small, wiry, bald man with lively eyes and a quick smile. He could be your neighborhood pharmacist. But he had just been named the leader of the one of the most influential dioceses in the American church.

The appointment of the Portland, Ore., prelate as the eighth archbishop of Chicago was announced April 8 by Bishop Raymond Goedert, administration of the Chicago archdiocese since the death of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on Nov. 14.

"The Holy Father has chosen an outstanding bishop as our new shepherd," Goedert said. "I am confident our new archbishop will guide this local church with great skill and dedication as we face the challenges and opportunities of a new millennium of Christianity."

Goedert's introduction was classic ecclesiastical prose, drawing only polite silence. Then, referring to the weeks during which he dodged literally hundreds of inquiries, he added, "Now, I can get back to telling the truth again." There was much laughter as the press applauded the man they had come to like and respect during the nearly five-month interregnum.

George, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, opened with a paraphrasing of a T.S. Eliot poem about returning to a place from whence one came and seeing it again for the first time. "New," he said, "I give the rest of my life to Chicago." At age 60, that could work out to 15 years, until the year 2012.

Although rumors of a dark horse candidate began to emerge early Monday afternoon, few took them seriously until church watchers learned that the archbishop was en route to Chicago, following his attendance at the installation of Denver's new archbishop, Charles E. Chaput.

George arrived about 10 p.m. in Chicago, where he was born on Jan. 16, 1937, and where he spent his early years. His arrival at the archbishop's mansion was delayed several hours in the hope of dodging the city's aggressive media. It was a fruitless effort to keep the appointment secret. In fact, the Chicago Tribune had its edition on the streets before the news conference ended at 11 a.m.

After more than four months of speculation, Chicagoans were stunned by the appointment of this relatively unknown man who had been raised in St. Pascal's parish on Chicago's northwest side. Young Francis George, the son of German-American parents ("with a touch of Irish in there somewhere," according to retired Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Lyne), had considered entering the archdiocese's high school seminary to study for the diocesan priesthood. However, a bout of polio, which left him with to change his mind because the daily commute to the high school seminary would be too difficult.

Instead, he entered St. Henry's Preparatory Seminary in Belleville, III., conducted by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, still with the intention of preparing for the diocesan priesthood. At age 20, however he entered the Oblate novitiate.

Goerge studied at the University of Ottawa, The Catholic University of America, Tulane University and the Urban College in Rome. He holds two master's degrees (theology and philosophy) and two doctorates (asn STD in Ecclesiology from the Pontifical University Urbaniana in Rome and PhD in America Philosophy from Tulane University in New Orleans). He taught briefly at Tulane and Gonzaga University in Spokane and spent four years as an assistant professor of philosophy at Creigthton University in Omaha.

The academic background shows. His responses are carefully phrased -- some sound like well-dressed syllogisms. The new archbishop is glib, articulate and fast. his predecessor, Bernardin, was not nearly as quick on the draw. Bernardin chose his words carefully, as if searching the tree for the best specimen. Further, he always left a little wiggle room. George appears to prefer the declarative to the subjunctive.

Both The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune described George as a "conservative intellectual." Several academic observers such as Jesuit Fr. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame, seemed to agree.

George's personal history links him to one of his likely mentors, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who allegedly boosted his candidacy for the seraphim level of the American episcopacy. He told reporters here that he has known Law since the mid-1969s when both were priests in Missisippi. He said at the time he admire Law's application of church teaching in fighting institutional racism and he later spent three years, beginning in 1986, at a Massachusetts think tank founded by Law.

On his resume, one of the most controversial posts he holds is as a member of the six-bishop ad hoc committee to oversee the use of the Catechism (see NCR March 21). One publisher, speaking off the record, described George as "brilliant, philosophically and theologically," but also one of the most rigid on the committee.