L.A.’s Auxiliary Bishop Levada to Be Named Portland Archbishop

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop William J. Levada, 50, who was considered a leading candidate for Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles last year until the Vatican named Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, will be named the new archbishop of Portland, Ore., today.

Levada will succeed Archbishop Cornelius M. Power, 72, who will be announcing his retirement today in Portland after 22 years in that position, according to an authoritative source who asked not to be named. A news conference is scheduled this morning in Portland with Power and Levada.

Levada could not be reached for comment, and his secretary in Santa Barbara said he was not expected back until Friday night.

A Long Beach native who began his seminary education in the Los Angeles archdiocese, Levada spent six years at the Vatican on the staff of the important Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation serves as the doctrinal watchdog for the church.

Served as Auxiliary Bishop

Upon his return to California in 1982, Levada was first assigned to direct the California Catholic bishops’ lobbying office in Sacramento, then was named an auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles in 1983.

Levada’s experience in the Vatican’s bureaucracy, plus advanced degrees he earned in Rome in an earlier period, placed him among the top candidates last year during speculation about who wo1970037792Manning as archbishop of the 2.56 million-member Los Angeles archdiocese.

Also regarded as a likely choice, however, was then-Bishop Mahony of Stockton, another Los Angeles-area native who had worked closely with Manning in the Fresno diocese in the late 1960s. The Vatican announcement of Mahony’s appointment came in June of last year.

Under Mahony, Levada served as Episcopal vicar for Santa Barbara County, then was named the regional bishop for the San Fernando Valley area and, three weeks ago, was appointed temporarily as chancellor and moderator of the archdiocese’s newly formed, cabinet-style administrative structure. A permanent moderator-chancellor is expected to be named in a few months.

Fluent in 2 Other Languages

Levada, who will be administering an archdiocese of 290,000 Catholics, is fluent in both Italian and Spanish.

Doctrinally very orthodox, Levada has been critical of the public questioning of church teachings, such as the New York Times ad signed by 96 Catholics in October, 1984, which asserted that more than one position on abortion was possible in Catholic theology.

Private doubt over Catholic teaching is far different from public dissent, the bishop wrote in an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 24, 1985. “In effect, such dissent 1769152609one’s own conclusions for the faith of the church,” Levada wrote.

Levada is a member of the U.S. bishops’ committees on doctrine and pro-life activities and is one of the writers for the bishops’ pastoral letter on women planned for the late 1980s. Such documents outline in detail the bishops’ teachings on current social issues.