FDLC Chair, Rev.
James Moroney's comments introducing
Monsignor McManus:
Monsignor Frederick R. McManus, a
presbyter of the Archdiocese of Boston, has marked our liturgical
pilgrim’s progress by the extraordinary service he has rendered the
Church for the past many decades. His curriculum vitae is a history of
the liturgical reform in the United States. Active in the National
Liturgical Weeks and consultant to the pre-Conciliar Bishops’
Commission on the Liturgical Apostolate, he was there before the Council
(consultant to the Pontifical Preparatory Commission on the Sacred
Liturgy), during the Council (as a peritus) and after the Council
(serving for six years on the Concilium). A member of the ICEL
advisory Committee from its inception, he was the first Executive
Director of the BCL, where he served for ten years. Having run out of
new positions for him to found, the BCL then appointed him a permanent
staff consultant. Beyond these endeavors in liturgical renewal and his
long time association with Catholic University, he has also been a
pioneer in the ecumenical adventures of ICET and ELLC and is the
presently a facilitator in the development of the Common Lectionary.
Fred
was mid-wife to the birth of the Federation some 26 years ago, so it is
appropriate that in our adolescence, we express our affection for him
today.
