Portland Cleric Named S.F. Archbishop : Catholics: William J. Levada, a former bishop in L.A., is known for conservative theological views and involvement in new catechism.

Archbishop William J. Levada of Portland, Ore., a former Los Angeles bishop known for his conservative theological views and involvement in the new Roman Catholic catechism, will become the new archbishop of San Francisco.

Appointed Thursday by Pope John Paul II, Levada, a native of Long Beach, will be installed Oct. 24 in San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral as coadjutor archbishop--a bishop designated to succeed the incumbent.

Current San Francisco Archbishop John R. Quinn, known for his liberal views on social and political issues, is scheduled to step down next spring, nine years sooner than church retirement rules require.

It has long been known that Quinn has been feeling the strains of leadership. In 1987, after the Pope visited San Francisco, Quinn took a leave because of stress.

Then, this past January, citing “a great deal of stress” from his responsibilities, Quinn asked the Pope to appoint a coadjutor bishop so he could retire early. The request was formally approved in April.

Levada, 59, will inherit an archdiocese that is reeling from accusations involving two priests close to Quinn. One has been accused of embezzlement, and the other of sexually abusing boys.

New challenges will face Levada in San Francisco--an archdiocese in some ways dramatically different from Portland--with its ethnically diverse population, greater social problems and what Quinn once called an “anti-authority” culture.

During his 18 years as San Francisco archbishop, Quinn, 66, has garnered support from liberals for appointing women to high positions and for publicly opposing nuclear weapons and welfare cuts.

He was described this week by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles as a “learned theologian” who has long wanted to devote more time to writing, lecturing, and teaching.

One of Quinn’s biggest challenges as archbishop has come from his controversial reorganization plan, which closed 14 churches in the archdiocese, which has a Catholic population of 420,500.

At a news conference Thursday in San Francisco, Levada made it clear he does not intend to change the course of that reorganization. “It is not my job,” he said, “to come in and second-guess the decisions that have been made by my predecessor, but to be supportive.”

In fact, he offered few details on what changes, if any, he would make.

“I don’t come here with a preconceived notion or plan,” Levada said. “I need to learn what the needs are here and how I can best be of service.”

Levada said he did not know whether the controversies in the San Francisco archdiocese motivated the leadership change. But he said he would try, “insofar as is humanly possible, to set in place the educational programs and the fiscal controls” needed to prevent occurrences such as the alleged embezzlement and sexual abuse.

He said he would especially seek to reach out to Catholics who have left the church. “The second largest church in the United States are people who were Catholics,” he quipped. “My first priority will be to . . . look at those people” and see if they can be brought back.

Levada shrugged off claims that he was a “conservative” and even an “ultraconservative,” by jokingly apologizing that he had left his “Darth Vader costume” at home in the rush to pack an overnight bag for his meeting with the San Francisco clergy.

When asked his views on including gay and lesbian Catholics in the life of the church, Levada gave only a general reply.

“There are many Catholics who are gay, and their participation in the church is pretty much what anyone’s participation would be,” he said. “We all participate accordingly as we follow the light of our conscience.”

Instead, he said, “labeling of people . . . is a fault, a bad habit, of the media that does not help us understand who people are.”

Quinn did not attend the news conference. But in a prepared statement, he called Levada a “man of vision and energy, a man of faith and prayer, a man of conviction and principle, eager to be among the people, to know, and to serve in gentleness and compassion.”

A native Californian, Levada served as archbishop of Portland since 1986. He was ordained in 1961, served as a parish priest and--with a graduate degree in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome--taught theology in Los Angeles. Levada was appointed auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 1983 and moved to Portland three years later.

In Los Angeles, where Levada served as an auxiliary bishop from 1983 to 1986, Levada was described by Cardinal Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles, as “a close friend and classmate.”

“It is a joy to welcome Archbishop Levada. . . . to California,” Mahony said. California is the only state in the United States with two sitting archbishops. But Mahony is the only cardinal archbishop west of the Mississippi.