James Aloysius Hickey

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James Aloysius Cardinal Hickey (October 11, 1920October 24, 2004) was a Cardinal for sixteen years and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington for twenty years.

Born in Midland, Michigan, Hickey became archbishop of Washington in 1980 after serving as Bishop of Cleveland. That same year, he attended the funeral of slain archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador. During the decade, he lobbied members of U.S. Congress to stop sending aid to the Contras in Nicaragua and pushed his fellow bishops to take strong stands against increased military spending and in favor of nuclear disarmament.

In 1988, Hickey was elevated to Cardinal Priest. Hickey was, at that point, one of thirteen Americans in the College of Cardinals.

While known for his social activism outside the Catholic Church, Hickey was considered a conservative in issues affecting the Church — for example, he ordered New Ways Ministry, a ministry for gays and lesbians, to cease operations in his archdiocese in the early 1980s. Yet he and Rev. Michael Peterson, a gay psychiatrist on whom Hickey had relied for advice in treating pedophile priests, and who was dying from AIDS, wrote a joint letter in 1987 to all American Catholic bishops acknowledging Peterson's diagnosis; Hickey wrote "Father Peterson's illness reminds us in a personal way of the terrible human tragedy of AIDS in our midst. His suffering challenges us to reach out with renewed conviction and compassion to those with AIDS and their families and friends."

[edit] Quotes

  • "In the years remaining for me, I shall strive to be a caring pastor, a faithful teacher, a loving father and brother and a true servant of the people of God in the District of Columbia and the five counties of Maryland. I am truly honored, very humbled and deeply grateful that our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has chosen me to serve as a cardinal of the church." (Said upon his conferment as Cardinal in 1988.)

[edit] Episcopal Succession

Episcopal Lineage
Consecrated by: John Cardinal Dearden
Date of consecration: May 18, 1948
Consecrator of
Bishop Date of consecration
Michael Joseph Murphy June 11, 1976
Gilbert Ignatius Sheldon June 11, 1976
Anthony Michael Pilla August 1, 1979
James Anthony Griffin August 1, 1979
James Patterson Lyke August 1, 1979
Alvaro Corrada del Rio August 4, 1985
Leonard James Olivier December 20, 1988
William George Curlin December 20, 1988
Elliot Griffin Thomas December 12, 1993
William Edward Lori April 20, 1995

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Clarence George Issenmann
Bishop of Cleveland
19741980
Succeeded by
Anthony Michael Pilla
Preceded by
William Cardinal Baum
Archbishop of Washington
19802000
Succeeded by
Theodore Cardinal McCarrick