Robert Joseph McManus

Robert Joseph McManus (born July 5, 1951) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been bishop of the Diocese of Worcester in Massachusetts since 2004.

[4] Following his ordination, the diocese assigned McManus as temporary assistant chaplain at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Providence along with a posting as associate pastor at St. Matthew Parish in Cranston, Rhode Island.

[2][3] In 1984, the diocese sent McManus to Rome, where he earned a licentiate and Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

[5] In November 1987, McManus returned to Rhode Island; Bishop Louis Edward Gelineau appointed him as vicar for education and director of the office of ministerial formation.

In June 1998, McManus left St. Luke after Bishop Robert Edward Mulvee named him as rector of Our Lady of Providence Seminary.

[5][4] In 2007, McManus criticized the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester for renting out "sacred space" to the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy for workshops.

[6] In April 2012, McManus asked Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts, to rescind an invitation to attorney Victoria Kennedy to speak at its commencement ceremony, citing her views on abortion rights for women and same sex marriage.

[8] On August 25, 2020, Pope Francis appointed McManus as apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts while continuing as bishop of Worcester.

[11] The plaintiff alleged that Reverend Thomas E. Mahoney had groomed and abused him and other boys in the early 1970s at various locations in Worcester and Boylston, Massachusetts.

[11] McManus was arrested on May 4, 2013, in Narragansett, Rhode Island, for drunken driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and refusing a chemical sobriety test.

[15] In response, Nativity School noted that Pope Francis has "praised the outreach and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people" and that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops "supports the spirit and movement" of Black Lives Matter.

[19] In June 2012, diocesan officials declined to sell Oakhurst, an historic mansion in Northbridge, Massachusetts, to James Fairbanks and Alain Beret, a married gay couple.

During the Oakhurst lawsuit, a diocese lawyer claimed that the Massachusetts anti-discrimination statute provides an exemption for religious institutions.