Moderate in Line to Lead San Diego’s Roman Catholics

Bishop Robert H. Brom of Minnesota, a theological moderate who says he believes that the Catholic Church’s “objective truths” must be weighed against individuals’ “subjective circumstances,” on Tuesday was named coadjutor bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego and the future successor to Bishop Leo T. Maher.

In a decision announced in Washington by Archbishop Pio Laghi, the apostolic delegateto the United States, Pope John Paul II appointed Brom to be coadjutor--an heir apparent who will share diocesan duties with Maher until he reaches the church’s mandatory retirement age of 75 in July, 1990. At that time, the 50-year-old Brom will become the diocese’s leader.

Brom, who has headed the Duluth, Minn., diocese--which is about one-sixth the size of the 462,000-member San Diego diocese--for six years, will be installed as coadjutor in a July 24 ceremony to be attended by Laghi, Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and Maher.

‘Strong But Compassionate’

During his first three months here, Brom, who speaks some Spanish, plans to become fluent in the language--a skill viewed as a virtual necessity for the next bishop, given San Diego’s proximity to the border and the large number of Latinos in the church. The remainder of his “apprenticeship,” Brom added, will be devoted to becoming familiar with the local diocese and its needs.

According to associates in Minnesota, Brom is, as one priest put it, “a strong but compassionate leader” who is able to balance his own strict adherence to church tenets with a recognition that many believers differ with Catholic orthodoxy on controversial issues such as birth control, divorce and the role of women in the church. While Brom does not veer from the Vatican line on those core issues, several priests said, neither does he harshly criticize those Catholics who question some church positions.

Brom displayed that quality at a Tuesday news conference, answering questions about how he believes priests should deal with Catholics who dissent from church teachings on certain crucial issues.

“In each case, we must distinguish between acceptable pluralism and diversity and what is unacceptable in terms of Catholic identity and membership in the church,” Brom said.

Explaining that he strives “never to deny the truth, but never to impose the truth,” Brom said that he could not “give a cold, hard answer” about whether he would condemn or understand individuals’ differences with church teachings before talking with them to discern their thinking.

Visit to Rome

Asked to categorize himself philosophically, Brom described himself as a moderate who is “troubled with both extremes.”

Born in Arcadia, Wis., Brom was ordained in Winona, Minn., 25 years ago--an event that he plans to commemorate with a two-week visit to Rome this summer. In addition to pastoral assignments, Brom’s other positions with the Winona diocese included service as a professor and rector at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary, and president of the diocese’s Senate of Priests.

Maher, who had requested that the Vatican appoint a coadjutor to ease the transition to a new bishop after his own 20-year tenure, said Brom’s name was among those he had submitted to apostolic delegate Laghi, also called the pronuncio, for consideration as possible successors.

However, as is typical in the bishop appointment process--an operation at once carefully structured but also steeped in mystique and secretiveness--Brom said he was unaware that he was even under consideration until Laghi called him two weeks ago to inform him of his selection.

One of Brom’s first major decisions relating to his position here was to forgo living in a stylish half-million-dollar Kensington house--bought by the diocese in anticipation of a new bishop’s appointment--in favor of taking up residence in an apartment at the diocesan seminary.

‘Simplified Life Style’

That choice, Brom explained, stemmed primarily from his longtime involvement with “the academic aspect of the church,” adding that he prefers “a more simplified life style”--an apparent allusion to image questions raised inside and outside local religious circles about the six-bedroom, pool-equipped Kensington home. As a result, Maher, who will continue residing in his Mission Hills home, said that the house will be sold by the diocese.