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.
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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.”
But Liz Sullivan, the diocese’s communications director, said that “the Diocese of San Jose is responsible for paying for the Bishop’s housing and its costs for upkeep when he retires.” And it was “following the policy set forth by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops,” she said.
McGrath explained that “the regulation regarding retired bishops is that they are to receive a home in which to live.” He said the diocese bought the Willow Glen home with money from a fund dedicated to housing retired bishops and proceeds from selling a Menlo Park condominium where his predecessor, retired Bishop Pierre DuMaine, had lived before moving into assisted living. It’s unclear how much the diocese made off the condo.
“The fund is a fund that can be used for nothing else,” McGrath said. “When I’m not around any more, the house can be sold. It’s a good investment in that sense. It probably makes more money this way than if it were in the bank.”
McGrath is plainly aware of the housing affordability woes plaguing his Silicon Valley diocese, and has lent his voice to efforts to ease it.
“Too many children and families are living in cars or tripled up with other families in small homes because they can’t afford the rent on their own,” said a 2016 article co-authored by McGrath in support of a $950 million bond measure for affordable housing. It quoted Pope Francis declaring “there is no moral or social justification, no justification whatsoever, for the lack of housing.”
But 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 wouldn’t be the first bishop whose accommodations were considered overly cush by some parishioners.
Four years ago, parishioners in New Jersey became so upset when they learned Archbishop of Newark John Myers planned to retire in a 7,500-square-foot “palace” that they withheld donations. That same year, the Archbishop of Atlanta, Wilton Gregory, apologized to parishioners for building a $2.2 mansion for himself in the city’s most exclusive neighborhood and said he would sell it.
McGrath took over as the San Jose diocese’s second bishop in 1999 upon DuMaine’s retirement. He has led the diocese through the challenges of profound demographic shifts. The workload of managing those challenges was so great that an auxiliary bishop, Thomas Daly, was appointed in 2011 to help McGrath.
The church requires bishops to retire at age 75, and they are to notify the Vatican as they approach that age so a “coadjutor bishop” who will become the successor can be appointed to begin the transition before taking over.
After Daly left in 2015 to become Bishop of Spokane, Washington, McGrath asked the Holy See for permission to retire early and allow a younger man to become bishop. The Vatican last month announced that Las Cruces Bishop Oscar Cantú will become coadjutor bishop in San Jose. Cantú, 51, will be formally welcomed Sept. 28. McGrath has not announced a retirement date.
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.”
