Robert W McElroy

Early life and education

McElroy was born into a Catholic family in San Francisco, California on February 5, 1954. One of five children, he was born to Walter and Roberta McElroy. He grew up in San Mateo county. He earned an A.B. in history from Harvard University in 1975 and a Master's degree in American history from Stanford University in 1976. In 1979, McElroy attended St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where he earned a master of divinity degree. In 1985, McElroy obtained a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, with a thesis entitled, Freedom for Faith: John Courtney Murray and the Constitutional Question, 1942-1954.

Priesthood

On April 12, 1980, McElroy was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Raphael Quinn at St. Mary's Cathedral for the San Francisco Archdiocese. McElroy was assigned to St. Cecilia Church in San Francisco, California. From 1982 to 1985, McElroy served as secretary to Archbishop John Quinn.

In 1986, he obtained a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy with a dissertation entitled, John Courtney Murray and the Secular Crisis: Foundations for an American Catholic Public Theology, along with a PhD in political science from Stanford University in 1989 with a dissertation entitled, Morality and American Foreign Policy : The Role of Moral Norms in International Affairs.

From 1989 to 1995, he was parochial vicar at Saint Pius Church in Redwood City, California. In 1995, Archbishop Quinn appointed McElroy to be Vicar General of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, an office he held under Archbishop Quinn and Cardinal William Levada until 1997. He then became parochial vicar at St. Cecilia Church in San Francisco. In 1996, McElroy was made a prelate of honor by Pope John Paul II. From 1997 to 2010, McElroy was appointed to be pastor of St. Gregory Church in San Mateo, California by Cardinal William Levada.

As a priest, McElroy authored The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray (Paulist Press, 1989) and Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs (Princeton University Press, 1992). He has written four articles for America magazine, a Jesuit magazine.

In 2005, he published an essay on the denial of the Eucharist to public officials because of their political positions. He criticized those who adopt what he called the "sanctions position" for a lack of "pastoral solicitude", noted the expansion of grounds for sanctions from abortion to euthanasia and other issues by one diocese or another, questioned the lack of clarity as to what behavior triggers sanctions, and cited the occasions when Pope John Paul II distributed communion to political leaders who favored legalized abortion. He proposed that the church's traditional "theology of scandal" should be invoked rather than employing Eucharistic practice as a means of discipline. He warned that imposing sanctions on individuals harms the church by appearing coercive, strengthens the argument of abortion advocates that the church is attempting to impose its religious beliefs on society at large, downplays the breadth of the church's social agenda, and tends to "cast the church as a partisan actor in the American political system."

He taught ethics at St. Patrick's Seminary and was guest professor of social ethics at the University of San Francisco in the Fall of 2008.

Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco

On July 6, 2010, McElroy was appointed an auxiliary bishop for San Francisco and titular Bishop of Gemellae in Byzacena by Pope Benedict XVI. On September 7, 2010, McElroy received his episcopal consecration from Archbishop George Hugh Niederauer of San Francisco, with Archbishop Emeritus John Raphael Quinn of San Francisco and Bishop John Charles Wester of Salt Lake City serving as co-consecrators. As auxiliary bishop, McElroy was the Archdiocesan Vicar for Parish Life and Development.

Writing in America, he argued that the emphasis of Pope Francis on inequality in Catholic social teaching

did not go over well with many American Catholics, who criticized his statement for being radical, simplistic, and confusing. This rebuff stands in stark and telling contrast to the otherwise enthusiastic reception the new pope has met with in the United States. From the moment of his election, Pope Francis has captured the attention of the American people with his message and manner, even as he has challenged us all to deep renewal and reform in our lives. Americans take heart in the pope’s call to build an ecclesiastical culture that casts off judgmentalism; they applaud structural reforms at the Vatican; and they admire Francis’s continuing focus on the pastoral needs of ordinary men and women.

Bishop of San Diego

On March 3, 2015, McElroy was appointed the sixth Bishop of San Diego by Pope Francis, succeeding the late Bishop Cirilo Flores. The diocese serves about one million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties. His installation took place on April 15, 2015, at St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church.

McElroy is widely regarded as a supporter of the progressive policies of Pope Francis. He has written frequently and extensively on social inequelity and the Church's social justice mission. In his first public appearance in San Diego, he pledged to champion the cause of the homeless; to support comprehensive immigration reform; and to ban anyone who has abused minors from serving in the clergy or other employment in the diocese.

McElroy is currently the vice-president of the California Catholic Conference and serves at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the administrative committee, the ecumenical committee, the committee on domestic justice and the committee on international affairs.

In 2017 he preached at the funeral of Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco.