There’s no question about it.

The sexual abuse scandal was the biggest challenge the Most Rev. Joseph J. Gerry faced in his career.

“It certainly was one of the biggest pains I experienced,” he told the Bangor Daily News in a lengthy interview after he submitted his mandatory resignation after his 75th birthday.

Bishop Richard Malone, 57, an auxiliary in the Boston archdiocese, was named Tuesday to replace Gerry to head the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which comprises all of the state’s Catholic parishes.

Gerry has been anxiously awaiting word of his successor from the Vatican since he submitted his resignation in September. He plans to spend his retirement at the St. Anselm Abbey in Manchester, N.H., where he discerned his vocation to become a priest a half-century ago.

While the sexual abuse scandal dominated the last two years of Gerry’s tenure, as it has the Roman Catholic Church worldwide, some Maine Catholics said Tuesday that they will remember him as a deeply spiritual and prayerful man who has been a grandfather figure and an example for the state’s Catholic youth.

“He’s like a wise, old grandfather,” said Tim Achorn of Hampden, owner of the Shepherd’s Path, a religious books and gift store in Bangor. “He exudes spirituality when you’re around him, and I’m going to miss that. I’m sad to see him go, but I know that he is happy to be going back to the monastery and back to a life of prayer.”

Gerry was installed as the 10th bishop of Maine on Feb. 21, 1989, after serving as auxiliary bishop of the New Hampshire diocese.

He was born in Millinocket, one of eight children.

His mother named him John Gregory in honor of the man who was bishop of the diocese when he was born. A portrait of Bishop John Gregory Murray has hung in the hall outside Gerry’s Portland office door during his tenure as bishop.

When he graduated from Stearns High School in 1945, Gerry considered becoming a doctor, a teacher or, possibly, a priest. He said his years at St. Anselm College solidified his decision to become a Benedictine.

“Now, in my old age, I can give you all kinds of lovely theories [about my decision], but in my younger days what drew me is what I witnessed in the lives of the monks,” he said. “They seemed to have their act together. They seemed to know what God was all about and, I thought, if that life does that for them, I wouldn’t mind having it do that for me.”

He took his vows in the Order of St. Benedict in 1948, received a master’s degree from the University of Toronto and a doctorate from Fordham University in New York.

Ordained as a priest in 1954, Gerry became the third abbot of St. Anselm Abbey in 1972, and subsequently chancellor and academic dean of the college, where he taught humanities and philosophy.

He was named auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester in 1986 and, reluctantly, left monastic life for a more public one.

“You have to understand that, for me, in the context of monastic life, obedience is a very important virtue,” said Gerry of his 1986 decision. “I knew that I had asked hard things of my monks. Then, all of a sudden, it dawned on me – how can I believe so deeply in the sacramental monastic life of the monastery that, when the church would ask, I would turn my back?

“I think that, at least in my humble judgment at the moment, what really turned me [to accepting the position] was that observation.”

Gerry said he would leave it to others to determine his legacy. What he found most satisfying about being bishop, however, was to be doing what God was asking of him.

“The positive things for me would be being amid the sacramental life of the church,” he said. “That is very important. So celebrating the Eucharist and being with people I’ve enjoyed very much. I’ve enjoyed visiting our schools, and I’m always amazed when I visit our schools how conscious the youngsters are of the reality of God and that he’s not someone who is distant from them.”

The Rev. Richard McLaughlin, pastor of St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, said that Gerry’s caring nature was appreciated by the diocesan priests who have worked for and with him over the past 15 years.

When McLaughlin’s father died a few years ago in Connecticut, Gerry attended the funeral. McLaughlin said Tuesday that was an example of how the outgoing bishop cared for members of his flock.

“He’s a deeply spiritual man who provided a very rich depth of spirituality to the diocese,” McLaughlin said. “He’s always been a humble man who did not live at all pompously, and he was edifying in that way. There’s a steadiness about him that you could depend upon.”

Gerry has followed Pope John Paul II’s lead in reaching out to the youth of the Maine diocese, according to the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt, pastor of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Hampden and St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Winterport. Vaillancourt has led delegations to World Youth Day during Gerry’s years as bishop.

“It is clear that Bishop Joseph has been very attentive and sensitive to the youth and their issues,” Vaillancourt said Tuesday. “He’s taken a lot of quality time to be present with them, just sharing the truth of Gospel and the church. He’s been a gift to the youth and their plight in this world – hasn’t run away from them, and he’s mirrored the pope’s love for them.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Gerry “is a leader of great compassion and extraordinary intellect. He has a wonderful sense of humor, and there’s a gentleness and serenity about him that is very appealing.” Collins’ mother, Patricia Collins, has worked closely with Gerry as board chairwoman of Catholic Charities of Maine.

Gerry also has been an advocate in public and in private for what the Roman Catholic Church calls “the sacredness of the human person.” He opposed efforts in the Legislature to enact death with dignity or assisted-suicide laws and supported bills that would have rolled back abortion rights. He also opposed budget cuts that would have hurt the poor, and he supported expanded access to health care.

“I think he’s been a very a good leader and he’s been a real advocate of health care in the community,” Sister Mary Norberta, president of St. Joseph Healthcare in Bangor, said Tuesday.

“He’s been very supportive of all health cares issues but especially the plight of the uninsured and health care access for the poor,” she said. “Overall, he’s been a dedicated and tireless spiritual leader who will be sorely missed not only by priests and women in religious life but by the laypeople as well.”

Not every Catholic, however, praised Gerry’s tenure as bishop. Portland resident Michael Sweatt, spokesman for Maine Voice of the Faithful, said Tuesday that the bishop’s handling of the sexual abuse scandal, especially over the past two years, means “his legacy is not really a great legacy.”

“I heard … that he was proud of the renovation of the [Portland] cathedral and the building of the new Catholic high school [in Auburn]. A legacy is not built around buildings and facilities. It is built around how you lead as a vicar of Christ,” Sweatt said.

Gerry said last year that the only vision he has ever tried to carry out in the Portland diocese is the vision Christ had for his people and the church.

“My vision, as I see it, was to help people become more and more conscious of the divine life that is theirs as a result of their baptism and to have them become more conscious of it and to respond to it and to live it,” he said. “If I tried to do anything, it was to try to make people conscious of their dignity and worth and the great vocation that is theirs as Christians.”