Monsignor Joseph LaMorte: Vicar General Was ‘a Good Last Job for a Parish Priest’
By: Patrick Grady
The retiring vicar general reflects on his more than seven years of service in the archdiocesan offices
On April 7, Archbishop Ronald Hicks announced that Monsignor Joseph P. LaMorte had retired as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York, and that Auxiliary Bishop Edmund J. Whalen had been promoted to the position. The Good Newsroom sat down with Monsignor LaMorte to discuss what’s next, his dedication to service, and his well-wishes to those promoted into new positions.
How did it feel to hear the news from the archbishop?
“I was planning to stay as long as I was useful here. Then unexpectedly, [Cardinal Dolan’s] retirement, and our new archbishop, and then you stay on for a while to help acclimate,” he said. “It’s the right time. I love this job, and I like the work I am doing and in some ways, I came knowing nothing about it… So, over the years, I made the job my own… Part of my job, I decided, was to walk the building every day and encourage and meet everyone and see how they’re serving the people,” Monsignor LaMorte said.
He continued by connecting this retirement to the end of his service in the New York Air National Guard by saying, “It’s time. I’ve felt that a couple of times in my life. One time was retiring from the military… When I realized the whole thing, I’ve been in the military for 40 years, and why am I continuing… There’s somebody behind me who’s waiting to get promoted, and I’m standing in his way… [With military ranks] until you move, a capable guy behind you can’t get promoted. So, I remember clearly saying to myself in 2012, ‘it’s time,’ and now with this opportunity to retire, it’s time.”
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What are your plans for retirement?
“It’s a chance to watch ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and whatever the old people seem to watch these days,” Monsignor LaMorte said, laughing. “But really, I was thinking in my head, ‘what is the best thing for me to do?’ Get up every morning and go for a walk or run as I used to do. I was able to go on these walks when I was working in parishes because your day is flexible, [but as the vicar general], there aren’t those pockets of time with the scheduling of office work. I think retirement allows for that flexibility. I’m not a guy who likes to run around a track. I want to tour Riverdale, Yonkers… I like to run or walk through neighborhoods and soak it all in.”
“Once a priest, always a priest,” Monsignor LaMorte continued, discussing how he will persist in his mission of the priesthood. “Where I say Mass on Sundays, I’ve told the pastors there that I am available during the week. So, if you’re looking for a day off and you need somebody to say Mass… I’m envisioning once the word gets out that there’s a priest who’s available, I’m hopeful that priests will call and I’ll be able to say I’m available.”
How do you feel about Bishop Whalen as your replacement?
“[Bishop Whalen] and I go way back to my first assignment as a brand-new priest at Blessed Sacrament in Staten Island. When I got to meet the staff at the parish, I got to meet the business manager who was his father, John… I met them back in 1981 and I worked with John every day… He talked about his sons: Kevin and Michael, and also his other son, Edmund. ‘Where’s Edmund, John? Where is he?’ I would ask him. ‘He’s a seminarian in Rome.’ In those days, there was no email or cell phones so a phone call would come in once a week or once a month, and I can remember John anticipating the call from Edmund… So, I was in my second year at the parish when Ed Whalen was ordained a priest. Our paths diverged for a time. I went into parish work and he went into education, but we both came [to the archdiocesan offices] at about the same time in late 2018 for me and early 2019 for him. We’ve shared nearly eight years in these jobs together, and vicar general and personnel director have always worked together. So, it was an easy fit because we knew each other for all those years.”
Monsignor LaMorte continued, “He takes on this responsibility, which is an important job, and there’s a lot of work, and it’s all in service of the people.”
“It’s going to be very hard to say goodbye for me,” Monsignor LaMorte concluded. “Saying goodbye is always difficult for me. Whether it’s a parish or this office, which is somewhat like a parish! Going to the sixth-floor atrium and seeing everybody eating is like going to the school lunchroom, which I used to do when I was a parish priest. You form bonds, and I’m going to be sorry to say goodbye to people.”