Rev. Robert E. Manning, at 71; headed Weston Jesuit School

REV. ROBERT MANNING

The Rev. Robert E. Manning, former president of the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and provincial of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, died Monday of prostate cancer at Campion Center in Weston. He was 71.

Colleagues said that with his gray beard and mustache, his "great Irish smile," and his way of making everyone feel special while sharing with them his deep love for his faith, Father Manning seemed more like everybody's uncle than a leading Jesuit priest, a scholar, and a linguist.

Since he retired from Weston Jesuit last year because of illness, the school has been reaffiliated with Boston College and moved to Brighton.

With that move, Father Manning lived to see one of his dreams fulfilled. He believed the change would not only strengthen the school's Catholic identity, but would be "better for Weston, better for Boston College, and better for the Church," said the Rev. Bradley Schaeffer, rector of the Weston Jesuit community.

No matter how lofty his positions were, colleagues and friends said, they only made Father Manning more down-to-earth.

"Anyone Bob met became a friend," said Father Schaeffer, former provincial of the Chicago Province of Jesuits. "If you met him, you would like him immediately."

The connections were lasting, including those he made at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, where he was chaplain and professor of theology from 1971-1985.

There, he provided a moral base for those students struggling with their feelings about the Vietnam War.

"Father Manning was very interested in the issues of justice and peace," said the Rev. Richard Clifford, dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. "He helped students see the importance of morality in public affairs."

Joseph Vicidomino of Dover, who was a student of Father Manning at Holy Cross in 1971 and has kept in touch with him over the years, recalled talking with him about his problems as a student grappling with the Vietnam War.

"I think Bob will most be remembered for his ability to translate our faith into the real world and the environment we were in at the time," said Vicidomino, a certified public accountant. "He very much saw the war as a moral dilemma.

"His faith called him out to challenge it."

He recalled that Father Manning had told him how earlier that year he and two other clerics from Boston had spent several days at the Billerica House of Correction in lieu of paying the fine for taking part in a draft board sit-in in Cambridge.

In 2002, he was among local Catholic leaders who expressed reservations of President Bush's initiation of the Iraq war.

"The strongest statement came from Weston Jesuit School of Theology," the Globe reported, "where the school's president, the Rev. Robert E. Manning, joined faculty, staff, and students in releasing a statement declaring that 'It is our judgment that unleashing massive violence in a military engagement of Iraq is neither necessary nor moral.' "

Father Manning was born in Somerville to Denis F. and Mary Manning and graduated from St. Clement High School in 1954.

His older brother, Raymond of Malden said Robert was "just a regular guy" growing up who had a strong vocation to become a priest.

"He was always a people person," he said.

At 17, Robert Manning entered the Jesuit order of the Society of Jesus at Shadowbrook in Lenox for his novitiate.

Then he went on to St. Andrew-on-Hudson novitiate from 1956-1958. He returned to Weston to study theology for several years before volunteering for the Jesuit missions.

In 1961, Father Manning was assigned to Iraq, where the Jesuits operated a college and a university, and taught religion, English, and math for three years.

He learned Arabic, studied the Koran, and did his master's thesis on Persian philosopher Avicenna.

He remained in Iraq after the Ba'athist coup in 1963, according to a BC spokesman, and returned to the United States in 1964 to study philosophy at the Jesuit school in Weston.

Father Manning was ordained at Boston College in 1967.

In 1968, he left for two years to study the New Testament at Princeton University Theological School and read it in Greek. He also spoke French and Spanish.

Father Manning's life outside the church was full of family, friends, and books.

"For all of his nieces and nephews, he was a third parent," said a niece Krissy Welch of Tarzana, Calif. Another niece, Mary-Beth Watt of Los Angeles, took his theology course at Holy Cross.

"It was the class I put the most time on," she said. "I didn't want him to be ashamed of me. He allowed me to have my own point of view and was never judgmental. He valued what we had to say."

Father Manning also loved Italian food and was a steady customer at North End restaurants.

When it came to his health, Father Manning took his trials in stride. For some 10 years, said longtime friend the Rev. Paul Harman, a bone ailment required a number of surgeries.

"Bob would have a hip operation, for instance, and would be back to work in a week," said Rev. Harman.

Father Schaeffer said Father Manning was "a Jesuit to the core. We pray not to prefer a long life to a short life; not to prefer riches to poverty, but to ask what is going to be for God's greater glory."

In addition to his brother, nieces, and a nephew, Father Manning leaves a sister, Denise McAuliffe of North Reading.

A funeral Mass has been said.