Ohio bishop: “We cannot allow scandals to impede our sharing of the Good News”

“It is our obligation as bishops to show the people of God that we are here to serve, and that we are accountable as well,” says Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of Steubenville, Ohio.

Most Reverend Jeffrey M. Monforton (Image: Diocese of Steubenville | www.diosteub.org)

Bishop Jeffrey Monforton, 55, is head of the Diocese of Steubenville in southeastern Ohio. He grew up in the Detroit suburbs, the oldest of three sons in a practicing Catholic family. His father was a claims adjuster for AAA Michigan. He recalled, “We were an average, middle class family with no questions about our Catholicity.”

Bishop Monforton’s two grandmothers first suggested he consider the priesthood when he was in the eighth grade. He eventually visited the seminary, “but didn’t see it in my future.” Five years later, however, he changed his mind and entered Sacred Heart Major Seminary at age 23.

In 1994, Monforton was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit. He served as a parish priest, teacher, seminary professor and rector, and priest-secretary to Cardinal Adam Maida, who served as archbishop of Detroit from 1990-2009. In 2012, he became bishop of Steubenville, which is home to 34,000 Catholics.

He recently spoke to CWR.

CWR: Tell us about the Diocese of Steubenville.

Bishop Monforton: It some respects, the people of the diocese are like those with whom I grew up. In years past, we were known for our steel mills, with the steel typically making its way to the Detroit auto assembly lines. However, the economy has certainly declined since.

The people here have a strong sense of their Catholic faith, aided by the presence of an outstanding Catholic college, Franciscan University of Steubenville.

We have 41 active priests, plus some religious-order priests. They serve in 57 parishes, although we will soon be closing two due to the retirement of one of our priests. Our priests are men who love the Lord, and may serve in one, two, or three parishes. We have one man, in fact, who serves in four. We have 13 Catholic schools, including three high schools and one junior high.

We’re a banana-shaped rural diocese in the Southeastern part of the state, with one side running along the Ohio River. The chancery is in the extreme northern part of the state, just a short drive from the Youngstown diocese to our north. It’s a four and a half hour drive, however, to reach the southern end of our diocese.

CWR: What goals have you had for the diocese since arriving in 2012?

Bishop Monforton: I want my priests to know that I’m here for them, and that I want to support them. There can be an abyss between a Chief Shepherd and his priests, which I want to avoid. One way I do this is by visiting each parish in the diocese over a two-year period.

Another goal I have had has been the renovation of my church, Holy Name Cathedral in Steubenville. When I arrived, it was falling apart from top to bottom. It has much deferred maintenance, and needs to be brightened inside to make it more attractive for Catholic worship.

There has also been a need to get our schools in line fiscally, especially considering the difficult times our area has had financially. We’ve also introduced ChristLife, a Catholic ministry for evangelization, into a few of our parishes. We want to do our part to promote the New Evangelization, but as we can’t afford a diocesan office, one of our priests is studying in this area and will serve as a resource to us.

CWR: You are an adjunct faculty member at Franciscan University of Steubenville. What subject do you teach, and how have your experiences on campus been?

Bishop Monforton: I’m in my fifth year teaching there, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. I teach an evening class on Christian moral principles. 

As a bishop, I’m charged with teaching, so this gives me the ideal opportunity to teach about faith and morals. It is also an opportunity to keep me focused on the current issues of the day, and how bishops should respond to them. I am more than two, sometimes close to three times their age, but these students want to learn from and engage with me.

I’m pleased that the university itself is a solid Catholic college, in line with the teaching of the Church and the catechism. I consider it part of my pastoral arm.

CWR: Earlier this year, the Diocese of Steubenville had to pay $3.5 million in back taxes because, as you said in a statement, “a misallocation of funds in the finance office occurred between 2004 and 2016 as a result of the actions of the former comptroller,” identified as David Franklin. You explained, “Payroll taxes were withheld from employees’ checks, but the money was not sent to the appropriate taxing authorities. The money that should have been used to pay employee withholding taxes was instead apparently used for other diocesan purposes.” How did something like this occur, and how is the diocese recovering from this experience?

Bishop Monforton: In January, after it became apparent that there were irregularities in the books, I consulted with our diocesan finance council and decided we needed a forensic audit. Such an audit is not cheap, but it was more expensive to do nothing.

In February, we announced that such an audit was going to take place using an out-of-state law firm and accounting firm. I wanted to be as objective as possible, so I pledged to share each month what was happening, to the extent that I could. The audit determined that the diocese had not paid Social Security taxes to the IRS since 2004.

CWR: What have you learned from this experience?

Bishop Monforton: As the old saying goes, “If you don’t have any regrets, you haven’t looked hard enough.” One regret I have is that I did not conduct a forensic audit when I first arrived in Steubenville in 2012. When I talk to my brother bishops, this is one piece of advice I offer them.

CWR: How has it hurt the diocese?

Bishop Monforton: We had to utilize an unrestricted fund to pay the back taxes with interest, and we don’t have a lot of this kind of funding. It was a critical hit to the diocese. I had mentioned, for example, our plans to renovate the cathedral. Funding for this project had been set back for some time. Also, it has greatly limited our ability to offer assistance to schools and parishes that are struggling financially.

And besides the financial hit, a second hit we took is to our trust factor. People are wondering if we know what we’re doing up here. However, we have a new CFO, who is doing remarkable work. Through his efforts, and some time, we hope to be able to regain that trust.

My responsibility now is to be transparent, and take the steps necessary to ensure that something like this will never happen again.

CWR: What are your thoughts on the recent Church scandals, and what are you doing in your diocese to respond to them?

Bishop Monforton: Our purpose in the Church is to share the light of Christ. We cannot allow scandals to impede our sharing of the Good News.

The 2002 Dallas Charter was an effort to make everyone accountable in regard to the protection of children, with the exception of the bishops. Now the behavior of some bishops is being called into question. It is our obligation as bishops to show the people of God that we are here to serve, and that we are accountable as well.

The behavior of Archbishop McCarrick and the recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury report have cast a dark shadow on the clergy. People need to know their bishops are responding in a positive way.

As I announced to our people in a letter read at parishes the weekend of September 8-9, that I designated Masses for Saturday morning, September 15, as Masses of Reparation for sins committed by Church officials and to promote healing for victims of abuse. I also shared that I was going to personally embrace the Three Pillars of Lent, fasting, almsgiving and prayer. I invited our community to join with me as they are able.

Additionally, I asked parishes to pray the Immaculate Heart of Mary prayer penned by St. John Paul in 1984 for the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I encouraged it be prayed along with the St. Michael the Archangel prayer.

And, on the week of October 9, when we have the Rosary Congress in our diocese, I asked that the Congress be dedicated to the victims of abuse from Church officials and for the building up of the Church in its call to holiness as Jesus instructed his Apostles.

I wanted to be careful not to place too much on the shoulders of the people of God, as it was not their doing that caused these recent scandals. But, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we all have a role to play in reparation.

CWR: Do you have any new initiatives in the diocese?

Bishop Monforton: Beginning with the 2018-19 school year, our Catholic Central High School has inaugurated the Chesterton Academy, which offers a rigorous, integrated, classical high school curriculum. Its goal is to raise up a generation of joyful leaders and saints educated in the classical tradition and truths of the Catholic faith.

CWR: You were priest-secretary to Cardinal Adam Maida for seven years. What memories do you have of him?

Bishop Jeffrey Monforton: He is a visionary with a kind heart. He depended on the counsel of others, and respected those with whom he spoke. He was trained as an attorney and could think clearly and make the tough decisions when he had to. It was a privilege to work for him. He was kind to me, and overlooked my mistakes.

CWR: In 2005, you were with Cardinal Maida for the funeral of Pope St. John Paul II, and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. What memories do you have about this time in Rome?

Bishop Monforton: The pope died on a Saturday, the day before Divine Mercy Sunday, and we landed in Rome the following Tuesday. We went to a viewing of the remains of St. John Paul, prayed a Rosary, and spent some time in the presence of his body.

We participated in his funeral liturgy in St. Peter’s Square. He was buried in a simple wooden casket. I remember the pages of the Gospel book flapping in the wind, and as the deacon was coming over to pick it up, the wind slammed it shut. I sat next to Father Daniel Thomas that day, who is today Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo in Northwestern Ohio. He was working in the Congregation for Bishops in Rome at the time.

We went to multiple Masses between the funeral and the conclave, which were both uplifting and gave us strength.

During the conclave, I stayed at the governor’s residence in the Vatican, and celebrated Mass each day for two Polish sisters who were also staying there. We were able to see the cardinals walking back and forth between St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel as they went through the process of selecting the new pope.

I remember the two nuns predicting to me on the evening of Tuesday, April 19, that we’d see white smoke [indicating that a new pope had been selected]. It was a particularly dark evening, with the Vatican not lit up as usual. I was walking with the two nuns across the Vatican grounds, and two security personnel ran up to us and ordered us to stop. They saw me first, but when they saw the sisters, they stopped and spoke to them in Italian. They walked away and let us pass. It was then I realized who runs the Vatican!

So we saw the smoke and heard the bells; I was standing by a statue of St. Peter when the introduction of Pope Benedict XVI was made. That night the cardinals had dinner with the new pope, while I enjoyed pizza and German beer with the nuns. That was the special experience I was able to enjoy because I was secretary to a voting cardinal.

CWR: Do you have any recommendations for the average layman-in-the-pew to improve his spirituality?

Bishop Monforton: There are many fine books on Catholic spirituality available, but if I were to recommend a great one to start with, I’d suggest An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. We live in a culture of immediate gratification, but that’s not prayer. Prayer takes work. It takes time. We need to see where Our Lord is moving our hearts. We have to be quiet and listen to him.

CWR: Who are some of your Catholic heroes?

Bishop Monforton: I’d start with my mom and my dad. My mom is still with us; my dad died in 2013. They embraced the gift of the Catholic faith Our Lord gave them and shared it with my brothers and me.

Another Catholic hero of mine is St. John Paul. I met him about once a year when I was working with Cardinal Maida. I had the pleasure of introducing my mother and father to him. My mother still has a photo of the meeting in her home, and I have one as well.

St. John Paul encountered adversity from the Nazis and the Communists but still was able to let Christ’s light shine. He demonstrated the virtue of fortitude, which I myself need as a priest and bishop.

I also admire St. Therese of Lisieux and recommend that everyone read her Story of a Soul. In 1994, after I was ordained a priest, my first assignment was as associate pastor at the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak in the Archdiocese of Detroit. In 2005, I was named pastor of St. Therese of Lisieux Church in Shelby Township. I’ve always maintained that I’m a closet Carmelite!

We have many wonderful examples of living the Catholic life in the saints. We must not let things discourage us, but instead must forge ahead following their example.


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About Jim Graves 233 Articles
Jim Graves is a Catholic writer living in Newport Beach, California.

10 Comments

  1. I appreciate your taking an interest in this bishop and he seems like a lovely, motivated person trying to do his best in a difficult situation. But those were a lot of softballs you threw him. When we are talking about this scandal, the clericalism must be addressed directly. What are we doing administratively to clean up this culture of sin within the seminaries in particular? Why are we attracting (and always have) attracted so many men unwilling to be celibate and who clearly are corrupting young men who are in seminary? Is it time to permit women to do this job as well? How can we address an inclusiveness of our gay Catholics as they, too, are children of God and desire His love? It’s going to take more than silence and prayers. And perhaps we can pray the prayer of St Francis at the end of Mass? Sheesh, this archangel Michael prayer is tight out of the Salem witch hunt. I still go to church for the Eucharist, for forgiveness and for LOVE. Stop all this demon talk and start showing true love for the Church( yes, all the PEOPLE are the church) by taking real ACTIONS and making culture and policy changes that stop the horrors being perpetrated on us all.

    • The Leonine Prayers (which includes the Archangel Michael prayer)are a set of prayers that from 1884 to early 1965 were prescribed for recitation by the priest and the people after Low Mass. Since 1965 there have been numerous scandals (financial, sexual, vocational and more) in the Church. Coincidence? I think not.

  2. Perhaps.
    But it is incumbent that all American bishops know that the pewsitters absolutely have had enough. The sexually aggressive homosexual clergy must be removed from their Holy Orders.
    This charade is over.
    Happy talk, faux youth synods, etc are all distractions.
    This Bishop, and every other Bishop, must be clean house.
    There is no alternative. Simply ask any state attorney general.

  3. Thanks for sharing your talk with this wonderful man and bishop. I need to be led and inspired by holy, strong bishops and priests – men of God, men for others. Reading this interview gives my heart so much peace.
    I am also challenged by these words of Bishop Monforton: “I [am] going to personally embrace the Three Pillars of Lent, fasting, almsgiving and prayer.” He invites all of us as Christ’s mystical body to join him in this. I have heard this suggestion before and have had every good intention of doing it, but … I haven’t. Yet. I am one who needs lots of reminders to do what I ought to do. Bishop Monforton has given me another gentle reminder.

  4. I am in the diocese of Steubenville, and we are certainly better off with Bishop Monforton than are many Catholics elsewhere in America. Still, it is disappointing that this bishop will never, ever, utter the word that is at the heart of this crisis: homosexuality, and the widespread network of homosexuals in the clergy. I believe in the bishop’s sincerity, but there remains a bureaucratic timidity that will not help in this crisis. In particular, dismissing this crisis by saying “The behavior of Archbishop McCarrick and the recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury report have cast a dark shadow on the clergy” almost appears as willful dissimulation, shutting one’s eyes to the scale of the crisis.

    • JustAnotherCatholic, I can only hope John above reads your comment, and expands his knowledge of truth regards the Crisis in the Church. Thank You.

    • The question that I would ask is: Are you better off with Bishop Monforton than you were with Bishop Conlon? I hope that the answer is: “Much, much better.”

  5. Great interview with a great bishop. We at Franciscan University are so blessed to have our Bishop in our classrooms and in our Chapel. Often, at the well-attended daily noon Mass, sometimes Bishop Monforton says the Mass and that is always a great Mass. Well, like all of our Masses. He is truly a holy man – a man that the students admire, and more importantly, a bishop who is approachable and kind to everyone on campus. I often see him when he is walking through the halls – carrying his own books and class handouts – just like the rest of us. All bishops could learn from this holy and kind man. I continue to be inspired by him – and hopeful for the future of our Church if he is part of the future.

  6. I don’t know about you but I think the scandal is the good news.

    So long as the vile and putrid slime lay hidden, the festering wound continued to fester.

    Now the stench of the gangrene overwhelms us as it should. But now we are also aware there is gangrene so we can finally do something about it. The sad thing though is that the clergy still act as if we are in perfect health. Talk about delusion.

  7. First, the Scandal is in and of the people, not the in the Church. As the USA is now a people who are morally, ethically, and financially bankrupt. The USA is the poorest country on the Earth, it stands for nothing, has fallen for everything. Most directly, those that are to stand up against sin the most, Catholic leaders. A reality, that is denied, in simple facts, family is the foundation of a strong civilization.
    Human slavery is greater in the USA today, than the entire Atlantic slave trade times combined, with mothers now selling their Babies into the slave trade, over abortion.

    The disparity of “assumed” wealth has rapidly passed into a minute few hands in the USA, with the major majority in the USA mere wage and debt slaves, which is leading to a nation in dispare. Which ill guided, and the constant fault finding of the church, not the evil of man connected to the Church.. Fails to bring the people to God, that can set all back to a right path…

    Catholic news, has to get back to reality, and Truth, not a few who have an agenda of self elivating themselves.
    Address the corruption of Unjust war, Unbridled Capitalism, and the mis guiding of the people.
    In scandals, of the Church, we really need to recognize, the US Catholic Church has not stood against the Unjust wars the USA wages, as the Genocide of Yemen.. The reality is, children go off and witness this mass genocide total defiant to the Catholic faith… Leaving them devoid of spiritual and mental well being…
    Is this not, a Scandal of the Church in failing to protect, the Children.
    Why is the US church not recognizing and addressing, aid the Mexico priests, women, girls being slaughtered, in the supply of the US drug addiction? Is that not a scandal of the Church?

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