Riordan Is a Catholic, but He’ll Be Judged on His Acts as Mayor : Faith: Though the new mayor contributes heavily to church projects, he is not a religious role model. Diocesan leaders do not expect his political life to be influenced.

Archivist-historian Msgr. Francis J. Weber, a master of California Catholic minutiae, can’t remember the last time that Los Angeles has had a clearly identifiable Catholic mayor. But Richard Riordan’s arrival at City Hall brings somewhat muted cheers in Catholic circles.

A traditional role-model Catholic the mayor is not--first, dating a woman separated from her husband while he is estranged from his second wife and, second, taking politically pragmatic positions on abortion and homosexuality.

Yet, because Catholicism is no longer out of the political mainstream and the church does not have the doctrinal sway it did years ago, Riordan is likely to be judged by religious leaders on how he performs as mayor, not on how he does as a Catholic.

To be sure, the multimillionaire Catholic of Irish heritage is in good standing with the church. Although twice-married, Riordan’s first marriage of 23 years was annulled by the church. He thus was able to receive Communion from Cardinal Roger M. Mahony during a private Mass to start Inauguration Day on July 1.

And the Los Angeles archdiocese is certainly grateful for Riordan’s generous donation of money and business acumen, especially since 1985, when Mahony was assigned leadership of the nation’s most populous archdiocese. Most notably, an archdiocesan education foundation that Riordan chaired has reached three-quarters of its $100-million goal for endowing tuition scholarships and school improvements.

After his June 8 election, the mayor resigned his foundation post as well as his seat on Mahony’s high-level finance council that was formed eight years ago to modernize the financial operation of the archdiocese.

It was principally Riordan who bought a $400,000 jet helicopter for Mahony’s use in 1989. In defending the gift, which he was to fly for only two years before selling it, Mahony said that Riordan and four other donors were “men who have given at least a million dollars each to the archdiocese in the last year, in some cases, much more than a million.”

So, are Catholics at least proud that one of their own leads the nation’s second-largest city?

“I honestly don’t think Catholics think that way now. Maybe back in the John Kennedy era they did,” said Auxiliary Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, referring to a period when many Protestants contended that a Catholic candidate would take his cues from the church hierarchy.

“Catholics have such diverse political opinions that I don’t think they vote for individuals because they are Catholic or that they manifest a particular pride because a person is a Catholic,” Blaire said.

Likewise, Weber, the archivist based at the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills, said, “I think in the old days, we probably put more emphasis on being a Catholic or not. Nobody thinks now that Riordan is going to call the cardinal and ask him what to do. That’s unthinkable today.”

After the Inaugural Day Mass for Riordan at the Old Plaza Church in Los Angeles, Mahony told the archdiocesan newspaper, “We need a (mayor) who can keep his spiritual values and principles strong. And I believe Mayor Riordan is that type of person.”

On some homosexual issues and abortion, however, Riordan does not reflect traditional Catholic views.

Asked if his enthusiastic participation in the June 27 Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade would irk his conservative supporters, Riordan said he thought they understood that no one would be excluded from his Administration, whether Christian or gay or lesbian.

Although the archdiocese has opened hospices for AIDS patients and has formed a ministry to the homosexual community, Mahony has shied from alliances with gay and lesbian groups that might lead people to think the church has softened its opposition to use of condoms. The archdiocese pulled out of the AIDS Project Los Angeles in 1986 for that reason.

During the mayoral race, Riordan said that he was morally against abortion, yet would not as an officeholder deny the woman’s right to an abortion--a position taken by many Catholic politicians in recent years.

Mahony declared in 1989 that all Catholic government officials “have a positive moral obligation” to work for the repeal of laws permitting abortion. However, Mahony did not threaten to take sanctions against politicians. “The cardinal has said consistently that his role is to try to persuade people on the abortion issue, not to threaten them,” said Bill Rivera, communications director for the archdiocese.

Blaire, Mahony’s chief administrative officer, said that some of Riordan’s statements during the campaign were disturbing, including an oft-quoted observation that as a problem-solver Riordan said he looks at ultimate goals without worrying about the means. “He may have said it unwittingly,” Blaire added.

“What he has said (on abortion) obviously would not be pleasing and acceptable to a lot of Catholics, including myself, but this does not mean we cannot work with him for the good of Los Angeles,” said Blaire. “Much of what he has said and done is fully in accord with what the church is trying to accomplish in the community.”

And besides, “the mayor’s office also has so little to do with the abortion issue anyway,” said Father Vivian Ben Lima, director for ecumenical and inter-religious affairs for the archdiocese.

“I think people see Riordan as a religion-friendly person,” said Lima, president of the multi-faith Inter-Religious Council of Southern California, which held a prayer breakfast for Riordan on Inaugural Day after he had attended Mass.

Riordan, who studied at Jesuit-run Santa Clara University before transferring to Princeton and is a member of the Knights of Malta, an elite Catholic fraternal order, told the religious leaders at the prayer breakfast that the “spiritual element” is the “one thing that’s going to make L.A. heal again.”

If Riordan’s relationship with the Catholic Establishment were to become strained, it conceivably could come either from his personal life or his difficult role as mayor of an economically strapped city.

Were Riordan to divorce his second wife, from whom he is separated, and marry again without being granted another annulment, the registered parishioner at St. Monica Church in Santa Monica would be unable to receive the wafer and wine of Communion, a rite central in Catholic worship.

Riordan and his close companion, Nancy Daly, who is separated from her husband, have given reporters indefinite answers to questions about marriage plans.

In the civic sphere, Mahony and a coalition of religious bodies were able to wrest $5.4 million in commitments from city and county governments for an anti-gang program over the objections of then-Mayor Tom Bradley. Whether Riordan can help keep that promise is yet to be seen.

Little doubt exists among many Catholics, however, that Riordan’s heart is in the right place.

Archdiocesan spokesman Rivera said that Riordan is remembered by Catholics not only for his donations to church projects but for “what he has done for the community generally.”

When Rivera was public communications director for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the early 1980s, he said that Riordan “had just given a ton of money for computer reading labs at schools, and at one of those sessions, talking with a few people, someone asked him why he did that.

His answer was, ‘I have this outlook on life that God has given me the ability to make a lot of money, but he’s also given me responsibility to make sure that money is used for the good of people.’ ”