| Joseph Aloysius Durick | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joseph Aloysius Durick October 13, 1914 Dayton, Tennessee |
| Died | June 26, 1994 Bessemer, Alabama |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Bishop Durick |
| Education | Doctor of Divinity |
| Alma mater | St. Mary's Seminary and University |
| Known for | one of the eight Alabama clergymen who wrote "A Call for Unity" |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Joseph Aloysius Durick (October 13, 1914 – June 26, 1994) was a U.S. Roman Catholic bishop and civil rights advocate. He publicly opposed the Vietnam War and the death penalty, which led to criticism from conservative circles. Durick also directed efforts at ecumenical cooperation with Tennessee state's Protestant and Jewish communities, as well as introducing Project Equality.
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Born in Dayton, Tennessee, he and was the seventh of twelve children. He grew up in Bessemer, Alabama during the height of anti-Catholic violence in that state.
After deciding not to pursue a music career, Durick decided to enter priesthood. He studied at St. Bernard College in Cullman, Alabama, as a seminarian for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile and graduated in 1933. Three years later he completed course work in Philosophy at St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland and later received Theological at the Seminary for Missionary Priests in Rome where he was later ordained.
Ordained on March 23, 1940, Durick became the assistant director of Catholic missions in North Alabama; by 1943 he was the director. On December 30, 1954, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Mobile-Birmingham, Alabama, and titular bishop of Cerbali. At age 40 he was one of the youngest bishops in the U.S. On December 11, 1963, he was promoted to coadjutor bishop of Nashville, Tennessee by Pope Paul VI with right of succession to Bishop William Adrian.
Durick was inspired to lead the Catholic Church in Tennessee into a new era by the reforms initiated by Pope John XXIII in the Second Vatican Council. To help present his reforms, Durick consulted with Catholic laymen, as well as a number of journalists uncluding John Popham, John Seigenthaler, Joe Sweat, and Father Owen Champion.
In 1968, originally a conformist cleric, Durick and seven other colleagues wrote the letter "A Call For Unity", calling on Martin Luther King and "outsiders" during the Birmingham protests of 1963 to stop and let the courts work toward integration. King responded with his Letter from Birmingham Jail, voicing disappointment in the white clergy, who should be "among our strongest allies". This, and the message he got from Vatican II, led Durick to become a strong voice for civil rights in the segregated South, for which he was called a heretic and a communist by his tradition-bound congregation. In 1968-69 especially, he faced serious opposition in the form of boycotts of his public appearances.
He succeeded as bishop on September 10, 1969, and resigned April 2, 1975, devoting himself fully to prison ministry. After six years of ministering to prisoners in various locations he was forced to semi-retire due to a severe heart problem and had to go through surgery.
Joseph Durick died at the age of 79 at his home in Bessemer, Alabama on a Sunday. According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Durick, died of cancer. At the time of his death Durick was survived by 3 sisters (Mary, Frances and Patty) and 1 brother (William).
| Preceded by William Lawrence Adrian |
Bishop of Nashville | Succeeded by James Daniel Niedergeses |