Russell McVinney

McVinney's alma mater, the American College in Belgium, closed on the eve of the Second World War. In 1949, the bishops of the United States began to talk of reestablishing the seminary. McVinney, along with Bishop Matthew Brady of the diocese of Manchester, became a forceful advocate of reestablishing the college.[5]

When the bishops voted in 1951 to reestablish the American College, McVinney was made chair of the American College's new board of bishops. He appointed a priest of his diocese, fellow American College alumnus Thomas Francis Maloney, as the new rector. Maloney arrived back in Leuven in spring of 1952, and the new crop of seminarians, including a number from Providence, arrived that autumn. By the celebration of the college's centennial in 1957, the American College had been significant renovated and, as a result of the 1950s vocations boom in the United States, over a hundred seminarians were living and studying at McVinney's alma mater. McVinney, present at the centennial celebrations, was granted an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Louvain, alongside his brother bishop and fellow Louvain alumnus, Fulton J. Sheen.[6]

McVinney opposed the reception of Communion by hand, believing the practice violates the dignity of both the communicant and the consecrated Host.[7] When the issue came before the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1970, he called the proposal a "dangerous procedure leading to a precipitous decline" and an invitation to "weirdos."[7]

McVinney took a strict interpretation of canon law regarding divorce. In October 1952, he declared that Catholic lawyers were forbidden "under pain of mortal sin" to represent plaintiffs in suits for separation, divorce or annulment of a marriage performed by a Catholic priest, unless they obtain prior permission of their bishop; that Catholics may not be present at marriages "attempted" by a Catholic before a non-Catholic clergyman or a justice of the peace, and they must not show their approval (e.g., by attending a wedding party, giving a wedding gift); that Catholics who are themselves invalidly married may not act as witnesses, ushers, or bridesmaids at a Catholic wedding; and that all Catholics are forbidden to act as witnesses, ushers or bridesmaids at weddings which are not performed by a Catholic priest.[8][9]

In 1957, McVinney exhorted Catholics to follow the Legion of Decency's ban against the film Baby Doll even in its censored version.[10][11]

In 1952, at the commencement ceremony of Manhattan College, McVinney condemned contemporary morality that attempted to "ride on the coattails of democracy," and encouraged obedience to an "objective" ethical standard.[12]

During the 1970 U.S. Senate election, McVinney chastised Father John McLaughlin, a Jesuit priest, for running for the United States Senate without McVinney's permission, saying McLaughlin's candidacy "has caused a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding in this state."[13] McLaughlin claimed that he did not require McVinney's permission to run, and that his opponent, John O. Pastore, and McVinney were "lifelong friends."[13]