Bishop Alfred M. Watson
In Holiness and JusticeBishop Alfred Watson, a native of Erie, grew up in the St. Peter Cathedral parish family: He was baptized, received all his sacraments and even celebrated his first Mass there. He served as auxiliary bishop of Erie from 1965 to 1969 and was installed as the seventh bishop of Erie on May 13, 1969.
He loved history, and taught at Cathedral Preparatory School. Bishop Watson flowed with the signs of the times as the church became global and established the diocesan Mission of Friendship together with Archbishop Manuiel Ruiz Castro of Yucatan in 1971.
He was great friends with the other priests in Erie.
“If Archbishop Gannon was eloquence and cufflinks, Bishop Watson was the cigar-smoking life of the party,” Father Pino says. He was a hospitable man; the cathedral and bishop’s house were always open to other priests. He enjoyed an occasional game of poker, and the other priests called him “Alfie.”
When Bishop McManaman died in 1964, Bishop Gannon was still in need of an auxiliary bishop, and Bishop Watson took on the post. In the midst of the Second Vatican Council reforms in the 1960s, it was a challenge for all U.S. bishops to handle conflicting views in their dioceses, and it was especially challenging for Bishop Watson, as a native son of Erie now coming to grips with his new leadership role.
In an interview, Bishop Watson once said that his ordination as a priest overshadowed his ordination as a bishop as the most memorable day of his life. He was devoted to his vocation as a priest, to ecumenism and to his motto: “In holiness and justice.”
Bishop Watson retired in 1982 and Bishop Murphy took the reins. Bishop Watson died at the age of 80 on Jan. 4, 1990.
In 2018, as a result of an internal investigation related to Pennsylvania’s 40th Statewide Grand Jury Report about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the Diocese of Erie added Bishop Watson’s name to its Public Disclosure List, siting testimony that he had not acted on a report of clergy abuse shared with him.