Manning, Timothy

by Deirdre Bryan

Manning, Timothy (1909–89), cardinal archbishop of Los Angeles, was born 15 October 1909 in Ballingeary, Co. Cork, son of Cornelius Manning, blacksmith, and his wife Margaret (née Cronin), both of Ballingeary. A native Irish-speaker, he was educated at Ballingeary national school and in 1922 by the Christian Brothers in Cork city. In September 1923 he entered Mungret College, Limerick. He developed an interest in working in California, perhaps partially influenced by his cousin, Fr James Cronin, who had recently been ordained in San Francisco and who told him of the great need for priests in California. When Limerick-born Archbishop John Cantwell (1874–1947) of Los Angeles–San Diego visited Mungret, Manning volunteered to go. In 1928 he travelled to St Patrick's seminary, Menlo Park, California, where he completed his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained in 1934 in Los Angeles and served as a curate in various parishes in the city. From 1938 to 1946 he held the various appointments of pastor, chancellor, vicar general, and diocesan secretary of Los Angeles. On 15 April 1943 he was appointed monsignor. After he became a naturalised US citizen (14 January 1944) he was eligible for further promotion within the US hierarchy, and on 15 October 1946 he was consecrated as auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles. In December 1967 he became the first bishop of the newly created diocese of Fresno. During his brief tenure there, he was involved with negotiations over the grape dispute led by César Chavez, the labour activist. In June 1969 he returned to Los Angeles, when he was appointed coadjutor archbishop under Cardinal Archbishop James McIntyre. Manning succeeded McIntyre as archbishop in 1970, a position he held until his retirement in 1985, aged 75. He was nominated to the college of cardinals in 1973 by Pope Paul VI.

His biographer, Francis Weber, notes that Manning was never recognised as a dynamic leader. However, he was credited with a calm and gentle leadership style and strong administrative skills, which facilitated the smooth expansion of his archdiocese during a period of great growth. As the leader of the second largest catholic community in the US, he took an active stance against nuclear weaponry and in the early 1980s described the nuclear arms race as a ‘dance of death’ (Weber, Magnificat, 679). He was a supporter of the Cursillo movement, a pastoral renewal course, in which he took part in 1971. He also had an active interest in missionary work and travelled widely in support of various missionary efforts sponsored by his archdiocese. This interest in missions, combined with his continued ties to his birthplace, which he visited regularly, extended to the mission of the diocese of Cork and Ross in Trujillo, Peru. His archdiocese provided financial support to this mission and his final missionary journey was to Trujillo (1986). Manning was Pope John Paul II's personal delegate to the celebrations marking the third centenary of the martyrdom of St Oliver Plunkett (qv). He received an honorary LLD in absentia from the NUI on 4 April 1974. After a brief battle with lung cancer, he died, aged 79, 23 June 1989 and was buried in Calvary cemetery, East Los Angeles. His papers are held in the archives of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. A commemorative plaque is located at St Finbarr's chapel in Gougane Barra, Co. Cork.