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Nov. 27, 2005
Monsignor Frederick R. McManus, professor emeritus of the School of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America, noted canon lawyer and key figure in the liturgical renewal of the Second Vatican Council, died Nov. 27, 2005 in Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, at 82.
Monsignor McManus began his teaching career at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in 1958 as an assistant professor, after having served four years as a professor of canon law and moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Mass.; he was subsequently promoted to associate professor in 1960 and to ordinary professor in 1964. Appointed dean of the School of Canon Law in 1967, Monsignor McManus served in this capacity for six years; vice provost and dean of graduate studies from 1974-83, he held the post of academic vice president from 1983-85. Retiring from his position as a tenured faculty member in September 1993, Monsignor McManus continued to teach at the university until 1997.
He received the Papal Benemerenti Medal in 1984 for his service to The Catholic University of America.
An authority on the liturgy, Monsignor McManus had served as the director of the Secretariat of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy. During the Second Vatican Council, he had been a consultor to the Pontifical Preparatory Commission on the Sacred Liturgy; peritus or expert to the American bishops who attended the Council, he met with the press after each council session to explain liturgical changes. As consultor to the Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy, he helped to guide liturgical renewal following the Council.
Monsignor McManus had also assisted in the formation of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, begun during the Council by English-speaking bishops' conferences to develop common English translations of liturgical texts; he had served as treasurer and member of its Advisory Committee from 1964-2000.
In 1964, Monsignor McManus celebrated the first official English-language Mass in the United States, in St. Louis.
Beginning in 1967, he served as a consultant to the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law; he continued in this capacity until the publication of the new code in 1983.
His contributions to ecumenism included serving as a consultor to the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. A member of the Catholic-Orthodox Bilateral Commission and the International Joint Commission for Catholic-Orthodox Theological Dialogue, he had also been a member of the editorial board of Studia Liturgica, an international ecumenical quarterly for liturgical research.
The author of numerous books and articles on the liturgy and canon law, Monsignor McManus had served as a longtime editor of the Catholic University of America canon law journal, The Jurist.
Entering St. John's Seminary in Brighton in 1942, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1947 in the Archdiocese of Boston. After one year of parish work, Monsignor McManus pursued his canonical studies at The Catholic University of America, earning his Ph.D. in canon law in 1954.
He received many awards during his career, including an honorary degree in juridicial service from Holy Cross in 1989; the Pax Christi Award from St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn.; and the John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America in 1990.
Monsignor McManus had been affiliated with numerous professional organizations, such as: the Canon Law Society of America; Catholic Theological Society of America; Catholic Commission on Cultural and Intellectual Affairs; Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture; and the North American Academy of Ecumenists.
He is survived by a sister-in-law; five nephews, including Richard F. '79, Paul J. '81 and James G. '82; a niece; and 12 grandnephews and grandnieces. His brother was the late Charles F. '54.
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