This San Franciscan’s Road Leads to Rome

From his days as a Catholic schoolboy in Long Beach and a Los Angeles priest to his more recent opposition to gay marriage, Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco brings a mixture of theological conservatism and American openness to his new powerful assignment as chief guardian of worldwide Roman Catholic doctrine.

Levada, 68, is expected to have a collegial style -- and an American take -- in confronting theological controversies as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the same Vatican job that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger held before becoming Pope Benedict XVI last month.

The pope, who appointed Levada to the new job Friday, had earned the nickname “God’s Rottweiler” for his unbending opposition to church dissent. Levada, asked at a San Francisco news conference how he compared with Ratzinger, quipped that he was “more a cocker spaniel.”

A stocky, balding man who is known for his love of reading and opera, Levada has been adept at handling church-state relationships in one of the most liberal cities in the nation. But nothing in his career suggests that he would veer from defending the church’s core dogmas and guarding against what he and Benedict have called moral relativism.

Levada rose from a parish priest in Santa Monica and La Puente to auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, and then to archbishop of Portland, Ore., and, since 1995, of San Francisco. And now he will become the highest-ranking American ever in the Vatican. Levada, who heads the doctrine committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, came to know Ratzinger when the American worked in Rome in the doctrinal congregation in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

In a 1994 paper, Levada decried what became known as “cafeteria Catholicism” -- Catholics choosing which teachings they would follow and which they would ignore. Such an approach, Levada wrote, had “no basis in Scripture or the church’s tradition.”

On Friday, he did not go into any detail but seemed to allow for at least some discussion. Asked whether issues such as birth control, married clergy and female priests would be raised once he assumed his new role, Levada replied: “Catholics discuss these things. I haven’t talked to Pope Benedict about them. I’ll have to wait and see.”

Marriage for priests is “not a doctrinal issue and won’t come before the Congregation,” he continued. Birth control “might.”

A change in Vatican style may be ahead once the graduate of St. Anthony High School in Long Beach and St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo moves to Rome in August. Church observers say he will bring American understanding of dialogue and the importance of individual conscience in a democratic society. And, they said, he also would carry the U.S. experience of living through the clergy sex abuse scandal and helping to craft rules to handle such cases and prevent reoccurrences; the Vatican congregation has jurisdiction over such cases.

“I think I’ll be a spokesperson for the church in the United States ... creating a better awareness of our needs and issues,” Levada said. At the same time, he said, he would “speak to my brother bishops” in America “in a way that will help them understand the needs of the [universal] church.” In addition to English, Levada speaks Italian, Spanish and French.

Those who have known Levada for years said he would make good on those promises.

William Marmion, 69, a retired educator from Long Beach, has been a friend of Levada’s since they were teenagers. In 1954, Marmion and Levada entered St. John’s Seminary College, where the future archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, was their classmate. Marmion did not continue with his studies.

“We’re especially fortunate that we have somebody that understands the American scene, in general, as well as the church in America that is going to be assuming this responsibility,” Marmion said. “I think it’s going to be good for the church universally, and I think it’s going to be good for the church in America.”

It is a view shared by Father Thomas Rausch, a professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “Maybe he would be much more conservative or hard-line than we think,” Rausch said. “We don’t know that. But he would bring a different experience to the job as an American. That would be very important. At the very least, he would be open to discussions.”

During the U.S. presidential election last year, Levada cautioned against a blanket denial of Communion to all Catholic politicians who supported abortion as a choice, as some U.S. bishops seemed to advocate. Levada said that was a pastoral matter best left to the politician’s priest or bishop. Still, he stressed that Catholics might argue about waging war and the death penalty, but that abortion and euthanasia were “evil.”

One of Levada’s most daunting challenges as archbishop of San Francisco was to uphold Catholic teaching last year as the city began issuing marriage licenses for homosexual couples, with wedding ceremonies performed at City Hall. In speaking out against the gay weddings, Levada said they “symbolized an attempt to redefine marriage as an institution established by nature and creation.” At another point, he led a rosary as a counterpoint to City Hall’s actions.

Asked Friday about that experience, Levada said: “There are many Catholic gays. I have tried to do my best to be a pastor to them. I am also required ... to be clear on the church’s teachings.”

The San Francisco prelate was the only American on a seven-bishop editorial committee that helped produce the revised 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, which said that while a homosexual orientation was not sinful, it was “intrinsically disordered.”

On another issue involving homosexuality, Levada showed what his admirers thought was political deftness. In 1997, San Francisco adopted an ordinance requiring all city contractors to offer domestic partnership benefits to their gay and lesbian employees. Because Catholic Charities received $5 million a year in city contracts, it would have been required to comply.

Levada objected, at first privately. But his letter was leaked, and he was soon in a confrontation with then-Mayor Willie Brown and the city’s gays and lesbians. Ultimately, he proposed a compromise that allowed the church to honor its teachings while allowing Brown to claim a broader victory. The city expanded the definition of domestic partners to include other unmarried employees living together, including a mother and her adult daughter, or a man and his uncle.

Asked Friday whether a more moderate successor should be appointed in San Francisco, Levada joked: “It’s hard for me to imagine anyone more moderate than me.” He added that the new archbishop should be “someone who has a little more hair and not quite as good an appetite.”

But the Levada appointment received a critical reception from those who say they were victims of sexual molestation by priests. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in San Francisco accused Levada of cover-ups. Levada denied the charges, calling them “off the mark.”

Levada was born and mainly raised in Long Beach in a middle-class family, the son of a chemical engineer for an oil company and a housewife. His parents are dead; his one sibling, older sister Dolores Sartain, and her two daughters remain in the Long Beach area.

Levada’s nieces, Julianne Bancroft, 40, and Stephanie Herrera, 36, described him as a warm, generous man with a sharp sense of humor who returned to Long Beach for holidays with them as he rose through church ranks. “Uncle Bill,” they said Friday, is a voracious reader, an accomplished cook and a season ticket-holder to the San Francisco Opera.

The stress and sadness that came with the national priest sex scandal, both women said, had taken a noticeable toll on their uncle. But it was, Bancroft said, one more experience that would help prepare him for his new role in the Vatican.

“He’s a highly moral person and completely devoted to the church,” she said. “But he’s also very realistic. He understands the realities of the world -- how the theological and the practical must work together.”

George Murchison, 68, of Long Beach, who graduated from St. Anthony High School in 1954 with Levada, recalls him as a quiet, scholarly student. “The awareness that we had of him in school was that he was the smartest guy,” Murchison, a retired CPA, said. Levada was president of the Latin Club, editor of the school newspaper, Paduan, for two years and a band drum major for four years, he said.

“He didn’t strut his mind in front of you, but you knew the intelligence was there,” said Murchison, who maintains a friendship with Levada.

As a mark of his intellectual promise, Levada attended seminary at the prestigious North American College and then the Pontifical Gregorian University, both in Rome. He taught theology at the Gregorian from 1976 to 1981 and worked at the Vatican in the congregation he will soon lead. After his return to Los Angeles, he became an auxiliary bishop and oversaw the Santa Barbara region of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Mahony said Friday that he joyfully welcomed the announcement of Levada’s Vatican role and that Levada would bring to it “extraordinary intelligence, a deep life of faith and a great deal of pastoral experience.”

Father Dennis Smolarski, a professor at Santa Clara University, was a student of Levada’s in the mid-1960s at St. Monica High School. Levada was among several priests who inspired Smolarski to enter the priesthood. In embracing the transition of Mass from Latin into English, Levada had a “better grasp on changes” in the church than the older priests, Smolarski said.

He also was devoted to the Scriptures. Once, Smolarski gave him a ride to the airport, but halfway there, Levada realized that he forgot his prayer book at the parish. They turned the car around to retrieve it.

Parishioners of St. Louis of France Church in La Puente, where Levada worked as an assistant pastor between 1962 and 1963, described a diplomatic but somewhat introverted man.

“He wasn’t a recluse, but he was not an extrovert,” said Ernest Kish, 76. “He would smile at a joke; laugh at a joke, but he wouldn’t necessarily tell the joke himself.”

Kish said Levada was a “studious intellectual” and a conservative who didn’t deviate from Rome’s teachings. “He was pious, austere and very conservative,” he said. “I would think he’s where he is because he followed John Paul.”

Levada’s maternal aunt, Dorothy Grunewald, 94, of San Carlos, said Friday that she was not shocked by his Vatican appointment. “He’s always been a wonderful student, and so we knew he’d go far,” she said. “It didn’t surprise any of us. We knew he’d be where he is now.”

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William Joseph Levada

Age: 68

Born: Long Beach, June 15, 1936

Education:

St. Anthony High School, Long Beach (1954);

St. John’s Seminary College, Camarillo, bachelor’s degree (1958);

Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, licentiate (1962) and doctorate (1971)

Languages: English, Spanish, Italian and French

Church ordinations and appointments:

Assistant pastor, St. Louis of France, La Puente (1962);

Assistant pastor, St. Monica, Santa Monica (1963);

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith official, Vatican City (1976);

Monsignor/chaplain to the pope (1980);

Titular bishop of Capri and auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, Los Angeles (1983);

Archbishop of Portland, Ore. (1986);

Archbishop of San Francisco (1995)

Career as an educator:

St. Monica High School, Santa Monica, (1963-67);

St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo (1970-76);

Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (1976-81)

Some current board positions:

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., member;

St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, chancellor and chair

Sources: Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, Times research

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Stammer reported from Los Angeles and La Ganga from San Francisco. Times staff writers Tonya Alanez, Erika Hayasaki, Joel Rubin, Teresa Watanabe and Claudia Zequeira contributed to this report.