Editor’s note: Bishop Patrick McGrath has decided not to move into the 2.3 million dollar home the Diocese of San Jose purchased for him. The following story has been updated below with the bishop’s statement.
When San Jose’s Bishop Patrick J. McGrath went hunting in Silicon Valley for a place to settle down and retire, he knew it wouldn’t be easy to find a modestly priced abode in one of the country’s most-expensive real estate markets.
But his decision to buy a $2.3 million, five-bedroom home in the city’s desirable Willow Glen neighborhood on the Diocese of San Jose’s dime raised some eyebrows among the diocese’s 640,000 Catholics, given the church’s mission of charity and serving the poor.
“That’s a lot of money,” McGrath, 73, acknowledged in a phone interview Friday from his native Ireland where he was visiting, adding “I could understand” it might not sit well with some.
Real estate websites gush about the “grand-sized chef’s kitchen,” “soaring ceilings,” “lush lawns” and “luxurious master en-suite” with a “spa-like marble bathroom” in the 3,269-square-foot “Tuscan estate” the diocese purchased for McGrath earlier this year.
“It seems very inappropriate for this expenditure to be made on so many levels,” said one parishioner who asked not to be identified to avoid harming relationships with other Catholics. “Our diocese is greatly underfunded as it is.”
Pope Francis, who declined the traditional papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace for a sparse suite in the Vatican guesthouse, also has urged bishops to demonstrate “outward simplicity and austerity of life” and avoid “the psychology of princes.”
McGrath acknowledged some retired clergy chose cheaper digs. Many live in Villa Siena, a retirement community in Mountain View sponsored by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Others live in church rectories, the homes of parish priests. Catholic orders like the Society of Jesus provide accommodations for fellow Jesuits.
“Those are all possibilities,” McGrath said. “But I’d like to live in a house so I would have the freedom to help the diocese but not disturb the priests in the rectories.”
McGrath said he looked at various homes both within and beyond the diocese but “they all had some kind of drawback.”
“I looked at places way out in the East Bay, but I like the valley,” McGrath said. “I thought it would be nice to be here, to be of assistance if I can.”
The Willow Glen house lists five bedrooms, but McGrath said he’s not planning to have other clergy as regular housemates, though people to help him cook and clean might come and stay. And he said the third of an acre would allow him to pursue one of his passions.
“I like to putter around in the garden,” McGrath said. “So I think it would be good for me.”
Full story at Mercury News.
After backlash, Bishop Patrick McGrath decides not to move in. Bishop McGrath’s official statement:
When I began plans to retire, and considered where I would live, I had wanted to remain in the Diocese of San Jose. This has been my home for nearly 20 years. At first, I had hoped to live in a diocesan-owned house that is located on cemetery property, but necessary retrofitting proved to be too costly.
This made it necessary to look for another house. The Diocesan Finance Council and the College of Consultors approved the purchase of the home in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. I agreed with them that in economic terms the purchase of the home made sense in terms of financial return on investment. It was bought primarily with funds that had been designated for this sole purpose, funds that had accrued from the sale of Bishop DuMaine’s condominium, when he was no longer able to live in it due to failing health.
However, I erred in judgment in the purchase of a 5-bedroom home for $2.3 million. I failed to consider adequately the housing crisis in this valley and the struggles of so many families and communities in light of that crisis.
I have heard from many on this topic and I have decided that I will not move into this house. The Diocese will put it up for sale as soon as possible; if there is any profit to the Diocese from that sale, those funds will be donated to Charities Housing, a division of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.
I assume full responsibility for this decision and I believe that the sale of the house is the appropriate action. I thank those who have advised me.
When I retire, I now intend to live in a rectory at one of our parishes.
From Diocese of San Jose website.
I’m surprised his conscience gnawed at him about this. or maybe he was worried about the diocesan appeal collections over the next years until he retires. Why did nobody at the diocese realize people would have a problem with this purchase? Because they’re out of touch.
Remember, folks, this is the bishop who a week ago cried poor that the diocese doesn’t have enough money to pay for the training of its seminarians and made a special appeal for people to donate. That same bishop and diocese just bought a $2.3 million oversized retirement home for the bishop.
Would Bp. McGrath have had a change of heart had the news of the initial purchase not been publicized?
Public exposure is the only way to deal with these habits.
Here is the house where former Cdl. Theodore (“Uncle Teddy”) McCarrick is living, which purportedly is consistent with the Holy Father’s imposition of leading a life of prayer and penance.
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/journalist-locates-mccarricks-house-confronts-diocesan-spokesman
Not a bad place to do penance for the acts of which McCarrick is accused!
Good decision. Sort of breathtaking that he had to be told it was inappropriate, but…all’s well that ends well. A good faith gesture would be to open the diocese’s finances for an independent audit and make the results public.
Hahaha . . . oops, you caught me!! Really, really red-faced (but then, I am grossly obese, so that is pretty normal for me). Folks, this was robbery in motion — congratulations to the good people that found out about this and yelled about it.
Yes, Excellency, you and every — every — retired bishop and cardinal need to be in a rectory somewhere, assisting with a parish, or diocese, or religious order (as well as saying copious prayers). But, props to you for stepping back; you are not the only one to get greedy.
Optics, oh optics. At least he made a more sensible decision in the end.
I’m really curious what the estimate was on costs to repair/renovate the house at the cemetery grounds. Unless the place was ready for a wrecking ball, I suspect $200k [10% of the cost of the house] would cover a lot of repairs.
I won’t even touch why the house had five bedrooms.
Nice observation about the 5 bedrooms. I noticed that in the article also, but alas, I didn’t pick up on it. It went completely over my head. :-)
If you look online, you can 2 of the bedrooms are mouse bedrooms. but it is a lot of house for 1 person.
The fury and distrust of the laity is boiling over , this abuse of finances and stewardship of the resources of this diocese speak to his character. .The hubris and incompetence of those involved in this is another insult to the faithful, his past ” social justice ” and other posturing statements and actions are telling in the current scandals as well as past scandals . That how bad this is and looks does not register with them is a sign of how obtuse the hierarchy is.
When we live in a bubble, apart from the real folks, a five-bedroom doesn’t sound all that bad, in the neighborhood, he chose to live. For those outside the San Jose area, the price is not outlandish. Tear-downs with 1,100 square feet three bedroom houses in poor neighborhoods can go for nearly a million dollars. It’s crazy. But the question remains, why would a retired bishop need five rooms? He made a good choice to not live in it. A nice two bedroom condo would be fine at half the price.
“…The $2.3 million home the Diocese of San Jose purchased for him.(?)”
Like the poor Bishop is a passive spectator to all this, and this opulent mansion, with “spa-like marble bathroom” and 5 bedrooms—hmmm— is being foisted upon him? The poor man. May we all suffer so.
Everyone knows the Diocesan executive advisory Council is filled with some of the most nauseatingly obsequious puppets of Bishop PJ, some of whom post here, in unremittingly endless defense of the indefensible.
What is wrong with so many clergy today? The choice not to move in is only because the matter was disclosed.
Respectfully, this Bishop is not a shepherd of the flock. This is so offensive and harms, once again, the image of the Church as the living image and likeness of God, who gave us our true shepherd, Jesus. We laity cannot look to the clergy today, exclusively. We must seek wisdom and understanding from God’s Word and develop a personal intimacy with the Holy Trinity.
“McGrath acknowledged some retired clergy chose cheaper digs. Many live in Villa Siena, a retirement community in Mountain View sponsored by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.”
Villa Sienna cost a fortune 30 years ago. Can’t imagine the cost now. But the notion that “some” might not like the decision to waste 2.3 million dollars on someone who should be living in community with other priests — recall that “loneliness” is often used as an excuse to explain away bad behavior, is absurd.
Thinking people would object to this obvious waste. As to Francis living in modest apartments, the refitting cost plenty so the outlay of cash was merely a publicity promo to make a person set on “their own ways” appear humble…
Golly, Tony B. I didn’t know the Irish came in that size!
Hmmm “house lists five bedrooms, but McGrath said he’s not planning to have other clergy as regular housemate…”
Then Why a 5 bedroom house to begin with?
This does not pass the public ‘smell test’ – but who bought off on the idea before it was publicized?
Politics, Politics & more Politics
That part of the article didn’t seem well-researched. Most retired diocesan priests end up either in rectories or priest retirement homes with other priests, at least while they are ambulatory. A few from old money might inherit a family home or cabin, but with the influx of Third World priests that is getting rarer and rarer.
Mentioned in the article but not commented on here, but two advisory bodies approved this transaction as well. What the heck were they thinking? Were they simply “Yes men”? They could have saved the bishop a lot of grief if they pointed out how much this house was out of the ordinary, even for elevated Bay Area housing prices.
Yeah, with the priest shortage there ought to be plenty of rooms available in rectories all over the diocese. Heck, I bet the Jesuits could spare a room in their residence hall at Santa Clara University.
I used to work in the DSJ. Conservatives aren’t welcome there. The whole diocese, every parish (except Our Lady of Peace), every parish school, the high schools, the chancery, the university — it’s all full-throttle left-wing small-c catholicsm. Gays run the diocese, schools and parish ministries and music like you wouldn’t believe. What they don’t directly control they influence by intimidation and a network of aiders and abetters.
During a meeting at All Saints in Hayward I actually included a Prayer for Pope Benedict the Wise – at which point the ‘music director’ (a flamboyant homnosex activist who played Liberace Lite ‘catholic’ music) got up and stomped out of the room in a public hissy fit.]
He got to stay on, whereas I was invited to move on – for Praising the Pope and His Wisdom.
Jesus is crying…tears of joy in heaven! The laity would be shocked to know that many, but not all, retired bishops live in very expensive homes.
Marco tosatti recently commented that the wolves in the flock no longer bother to try to disguise themselves as sheep ,rather they now pass themselves off as shepherds
Matt. 8:20: “Jesus replied, ” The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. ” (Douay-Rheims version)
Now, for the New Living Bible Version:
Matt. 8:20 “Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head, but fear not, little flock, Bishops have $2.3 million digs with a marble-spa-style bathroom and 5 bedrooms, .”
I am just plain annoyed at this- He says ” However, I erred in judgment in the purchase of a 5-bedroom home for $2.3 million. I failed to consider adequately the housing crisis in this valley and the struggles of so many families and communities in light of that crisis.” This on the tails of the letter he issued that went out to many parishes ( including mine in the east bay) about how we as Catholics must care for the poor. He made such an issue of the concerns for the poor but “failed” to recognize the needs of his own community? This is just fascinating coming form a supposedly educated man. This is the very reason why so many Catholics are falling away, they take issue with the ignorance and seemingly out of touch nature by the…