Adam Maida

His Eminence
Adam Joseph Maida
Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit

Cardinal Maida (left) outside the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament
See Detroit (emeritus)
Appointed April 28, 1990
Installed June 12, 1990
Term ended January 5, 2009
Predecessor Edmund Szoka
Successor Allen Henry Vigneron
Other posts Cardinal-Priest of Santi Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio
Orders
Ordination May 26, 1956
by John Francis Dearden
Consecration January 25, 1984
by Pio Laghi
Created Cardinal November 26, 1994
by John Paul II
Rank Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born March 18, 1930
East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
Previous post Bishop of Green Bay (1984-90)
Superior of Cayman Islands (2000-09)
Motto
  • Facere Omnia Nova
  • (To Make All Things New)
Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}
Styles of
Adam Maida
Reference style His Eminence
Spoken style Your Eminence
Informal style Cardinal

Adam Joseph Maida (born March 18, 1930) is an American cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan from 1990 to 2009, and was elevated to Cardinal in 1994.[1]

Cardinal Maida previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin from 1984 to 1990.[2]

Biography

Early life and education

Adam Maida was born in East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, to Adam and Sophie (née Cieslak) Maida.[3] The oldest of three children, he has two brothers, Thaddeus (who also became a priest) and Daniel.[4] His father immigrated from Poland at age 16, while his mother was the daughter of Polish immigrants.[4] He and his brothers attended public schools in East Vandergrift since there were no local Catholic schools.[5]

Maida attended each Vandergrift High School and Scott Township High School for one year.[1] During his sophomore year of high school, he decided to enter the priesthood and was sent to St. Mary's Preparatory in Orchard Lake Village, Michigan.[5] He graduated from St. Mary's Preparatory in 1948, and then entered St. Mary's College, also in Orchard Lake Village.[6] In 1950, he transferred to St. Vincent's College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1952.[3] He received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from St. Mary's University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1956.[6]

Ordination and ministry

On May 26, 1956, Maida was ordained a priest by Bishop John Dearden at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Pittsburgh.[2] His first assignment was as assistant pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Pleasant Hills.[7] He later served at Holy Innocents Church in Sheraden.[7] In 1958, he was sent by Bishop Dearden to study at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, where he earned a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1960.[3] He received his Juris Doctor from Duquesne University School of Law in 1964; he was admitted to practice law before the bar for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Federal Bar in Western Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Supreme Court.[1]

Maida served as vice-chancellor and general counsel (1965–83) of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.[5] In 1968, he was elected president of the Canon Law Society of America.[7] He served on a papal commission to draft a due process procedure giving the laity legal recourse within the Church, and participated in the revision of the Code of Canon Law; for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, he worked on the adoption of a due process procedure and chaired the bishops' Canonical Affairs Committee.[5]

He served as a member of the diocesan tribunal, assistant professor of theology at La Roche College, and adjunct professor of law at Duquesne University Law School (1971–83).[6] He was also chaplain of the St. Thomas More Society.[3]

Bishop of Green Bay

On November 8, 1983, Maida was appointed the ninth Bishop of Green Bay by Pope John Paul II.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on January 25, 1984 from Archbishop Pio Laghi, with Bishops Aloysius Wycislo and Vincent Leonard serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier.[2]

During his tenure in Green Bay, Maida appointed the diocese's first female chancellor and first female parish director.[8] He also established a diocesan planning council and ministry formation program, initiated a diocesan census, implemented the RCIA process, and raised $9 million through Lumen Christi education endowment campaign.[8]

Archbishop of Detroit

The coat of arms of Cardinal Maida, as Archbishop of Detroit

In 1990, the Pope named Cardinal Edmund Szoka, Archbishop of Detroit, to serve as a Vatican official, and subsequently chose Bishop Maida as his successor in Detroit as on April 28 of that year.[9] Maida was installed as the fourth Archbishop of Detroit on June 12.[10]

On November 26, 1994, Pope John Paul II elevated Maida to the Sacred College of Cardinals as Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio.[9] In 2000, Maida was appointed the first superior of the Mission Sui Iuris of Cayman Islands. In April 2005, following the Pope's death, he traveled to the Vatican as a cardinal elector to participate in the conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Maida is no longer eligible to vote in any future conclaves as he reached his 80th birthday on March 18, 2010.

Maida is the ecclesiastic advisor to the Catholic Advisory Board for the Ave Maria Mutual Funds and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America. In 2002, St. Gertrude School, part of the Diocese of Greensburg in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, was renamed Cardinal Maida Academy in Maida's honor. The school, which offers instruction from grades kindergarten through six, is near his hometown of East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.

Retirement

On March 18, 2005, Maida followed church law and submitted his retirement request to the Vatican (age 75).[9] The Vatican asked Maida to remain archbishop until further notice.[9] On June 8, 2006 Maida celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.

On January 5, 2009, the Holy See announced acceptance of Maida's resignation and the appointment of Allen Henry Vigneron, then Bishop of Oakland, as his successor as Archbishop of Detroit. Vigneron was installed on January 28, 2009 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit[11][12] Cardinal Maida became apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Detroit and assisted incoming Archbishop Vigneron with the transition.[13]

Maida celebrated his final mass at the cathedral on January 25, 2009. This was also held in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his consecration as a bishop.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Biography of Adam Cardinal Maida". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Cheney, David M. "Adam Joseph Cardinal Maida". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Miranda, Salvador. "MAIDA, Adam Joseph (1930- )". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lukowski, Kristin (2008-01-31). "Mrs. Sophie Maida". The Michigan Catholic.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "50th Anniversary of Ordination". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "MAIDA Card. Adam Joseph". Holy See.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Sharpe, Jerry (1983-11-08). "Priest here named Green Bay bishop". Pittsburgh Press.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Bishops of the Diocese of Green Bay". Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Cardinal Maida retires; successor named". The Compass (official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin). January 9, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Photo Gallery, Adam Maida, shepherd of the Archdiocese of Detroit". Detroit News. 2009-01-22. Retrieved 2009-01-22. Picture 4 caption: Cardinal Edmund Szoka and Archbishop Adam Maida face the congregation at Maida's installation as Archbishop of Detroit, June 12, 1990.
  11. ↑ Wilkinson, Mike. "Maida's successor will be first native son to lead Archdiocese of Detroit". Detroit News. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
  12. ↑ "Detroit Gets New Archbishop". WDIV. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2009-01-06. Maida, selected to lead the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1990, submitted his resignation in 2005 when he turned 75 as required by church law, but the pope had invited him to continue. Maida's resignation now has been accepted.
  13. ↑ Yonke, David (January 6, 2009). "Archbishop appointed to Detroit diocese". Toledo Blade. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  14. ↑ Jim Lynch (2009-01-26). "More than 1,000 attend final Mass for archbishop Maida". Detroit News. Retrieved 2009-01-26. On Sunday (January 25, 2009), with Maida celebrating his final regular Mass as the archbishop of Detroit, Butkunas and Giedraitis traveled to Detroit for a special 3 p.m. service at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. ... More than 1,000 people crammed Blessed Sacrament Sunday for a service that marked the 25-year anniversary of Maida's ordination.

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Edmund Szoka		 Archbishop of Detroit
1990–2009 		Succeeded by
Allen Henry Vigneron
Mission sui iuris erected Ecclesiastical Superior of the Cayman Islands
2000–2009
Preceded by
Aloysius John Wycislo		 Bishop of Green Bay
1984–1990 		Succeeded by
Robert Joseph Banks