Cardinal Sean O’Malley continues to build up his inner-circle of hand-picked advisors with the appointment of a new chancellor today. They have hired James P. McDonough, who was previously the CEO of a small, local savings bank. McDonough is the fifth lay chancellor of the archdiocese.
The chancellor oversees the administrative aspects of the archdiocese, including financial and property management. The Cardinal just recently brought in a new vicar general, Fr. Richard Erickson, and they’re still looking to hire a fundraiser and a superintendent of religious education.
I don’t know anything about McDonough, although I’m sure we’ll be learning more soon.
hargreaves wrote: If orthodox Catholics are applying for all these jobs and being denied perhaps Cardinal O’Malley, and by extension Pope Benedict XVI, are trying to tell you something. Perhaps you can discern this message in your prayer life.
That’s an impressive act of ventriloquism, smugly hinting at a put-down, and placing it in the mouths of the bishop, the Pope, and even God. We are deeply grateful.
(Ah, well. At least I won’t be alone in Purgatory.)
On the other hand, contra Mary Jane, I have a hard time believing that donating to pro-abort Mitt Romney is good thing for a Catholic to do.
Did a quick google search. Nothing popped up related to McDonough sitting on church-related boards or being involved in Church causes. That doesn’t mean much in my opinion as probably only about half of church organizations have any type of web presence. Most of his leadership activities that popped up were career or community related. I think that he must have been involved (and at least had a strong recommendation from his pastor) to get this role.
Interestingly, the same CFO (James Hunt) helped both McDonough and Finnegan (the Chair of the Search Committee) sell their respective banks (Abington and US Trust respectively). Not sure that means anything (it’s a small banking community after all) but it was interesting nevertheless.
McDonough has a distinguished a long career of doing more than just being a small bank CEO. He has risen to lead industry groups like the Mass Bankers Association and been involved in the Chambers of Commerce, which probably suggests an ability to work well with people and earn respect.
His experience running a community bank with a lot of branches probably suggests a background in retail customer service. It probably will translate into a focus on the parishes and how the Chancery can help parishes and pastors be more effective. If that happens, that would be a good thing.
Based on his 27 years at one company in the community banking industry, my guess is that he wouldn’t be considered as innovative as business leaders from other industries that change quickly, like software, biotech, etc. The strength of that will be that he’ll likely focus on the basics and get those right.
His experience as the CEO of a public company suggests that he is used to reporting numbers quarterly, so he probably will help the Cardinal further financial transparency. On the other hand, many public company CEOs are trained to be spin-masters, so hopefully he can turn that off is his role to help Cardinal Sean with transparency.
Here’s a bio I found on the web:
JAMES P. MCDONOUGH briefly served as president of CompassBank after it acquired Abington Savings Bank and before it was acquired by Sovereign Bank. He had been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Abington Savings Bank since August 1991. Previously, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bank from November 1990 to August 1991 and Senior Vice President-Lending of the Bank from December 1987 to November 1990. Mr. McDonough was also Vice President-Regional Manager of GEM Mortgage Corporation of North America from 1983 to 1987. Prior to GEM, Mr. McDonough worked also at Abington from 1976 to 1983, serving as its Senior Lending Officer and head of its lending division. Prior to his first stint at Abington Savings Bank, he was a teacher and coach for the Weymouth Public Schools. Mr. McDonough is a graduate of Massasoit Community College and Boston State College. He is a former vice chairman of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and a trustee of the South Shore Hospital Health and Education Foundation. He is a past chairman of the Massachusetts Bankers Association and a former member of its board of directors. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. He resides in Hanover with his wife and two children. He attends St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Parish in Hanover.
Let’s pray for him. The Church is stronger if he is an excellent Chancellor.
I’m curious who these other candidates were. Can anyone tell us?
Were they equally well qualified in the business side of things?
Jack Connors donates to BC with one hand and publicly criticizes the Church with the other.
No contradiction there: those are two methods of opposing the Church.