Francis B. Schulte

Francis Bible Schulte, O.H.S. (December 23, 1926 – January 17, 2016) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston from 1985 to 1989, and Archbishop of New Orleans from 1989 to 2002.^[1]

Biography

Schulte was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child of John Schulte, a pharmacist, and his wife, Katherine Bible.<ref name=AP /^[2] His parents had him baptized with both their surnames.<ref name=WDSU /^[3] As a child, his parents enrolled him in the Norwood Academy for Boys, during which time his father died, when Francis was 11 years old.^[4] He went on to study at St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia.

Following a call to become a Catholic priest, with his mother's strong support, Schulte enrolled at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook to prepare for the ministry. He later studied at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he obtained a master's degree in political science, and did gradutate studies at Oxford University in England, and at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Schulte was ordained to the priesthood on May 10, 1952, for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and then was named by John F. O'Hara, C.S.C., the Archbishop of Philadelphia, to serve as a faculty member and department head of various Philadelphia-area parochial schools. He was appointed an assistant superintendent of the schools of the archdiocese (1960–70) by O'Hara's successor, John Krol, and later superintendent (1970–80). He was raised to the rank of Papal Chamberlain by Pope Paul VI, and was named pastor of St. Margaret Parish in Narberth in 1980.

Episcopate

On June 27, 1981, Schulte was appointed an auxiliary bishop of his archdiocese and the Titular Bishop of Afufenia by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained as a bishop on the following August 12 by Krol (by then a cardinal) as his principal consecrator and Bishops John J. Graham and Martin N. Lohmuller serving as co-consecrators. He was named, on June 4, 1985, by that same pope the sixth Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia.

Pope John Paul transferred Schulte to head the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans on December 6, 1988, in which office he was installed on February 14, 1989. Among the many challenges he faced in leading the Catholics of the archdiocese was the shifting of its population, which led to the closing or merging of several parishes. He also brought his long experience as an educator to bear with a major restructuring of the school system of the archdiocese.^[5] He served as the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Education, helping to write and research a document on the role local bishops and archbishops should play in Catholic universities within their jurisdictions.^[6] In 1992, he created the archdiocese's first formal process for dealing with complaints of sexual abuse by priests or other church employees.^[7]

In addition to Schulte's duties in the archdiocese, in 1992 he also took on the leadership of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre for the Southeastern United States, being named the grand prior of that region.^[8]

Schulte retired as archbishop on January 3, 2002. He remained in residence in New Orleans, until his diagnosis of prostate cancer shortly after the city had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Upon the recommendation of his doctors, who advised better facilities would be available in his hometown of Philadelphia, he moved there. After spending some time in a nursing home in that city, he died there on January 17, 2016, at the age of 89. His remains are to be interred in the crypt of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, in New Orleans.^[4]

References

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by –	Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia 1981–1985	Succeeded by –
Preceded by Joseph Howard Hodges	Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston 1985–1988	Succeeded by Bernard William Schmitt
Preceded by Philip Matthew Hannan	Archbishop of New Orleans 1988–2001	Succeeded by Alfred Clifton Hughes
Preceded by Stanley Joseph Ott	Grand Prior Southeastern Lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre 1992–2002	Succeeded by Alfred Clifton Hughes

Archdiocese of New Orleans Ordinaries Bishops Luis Ignatius Peñalver y Cárdenas Francisco Porró y Reinado Louis-Guillaume Dubourg Joseph Rosati Leo-Raymond de Neckere Archbishops Antoine Blanc Jean-Marie Odin Napoléon-Joseph Perché Francis Xavier Leray Francis Janssens Placide Louis Chapelle James Hubert Blenk John William Shaw Joseph Francis Rummel John Patrick Cody Philip Matthew Hannan Francis Bible Schulte Alfred Clifton Hughes Gregory Michael Aymond Auxiliary bishops Gustave Augustin Rouxel John Laval Louis Abel Caillouet Harold Perry, S.V.D. Stanley Joseph Ott Robert William Muench Dominic Carmon, S.V.D. Gregory Michael Aymond Roger Paul Morin Shelton Joseph Fabre Fernand J. Cheri, O.F.M. Churches Cathedral St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans Orleans Parish Immaculate Conception Our Lady of Guadalupe St. Augustine Church St. Mary's Assumption St. Patrick's Schools Higher education Loyola Our Lady of Holy Cross Xavier Notre Dame Seminary Saint Joseph Seminary College High schools Academy of Our Lady Academy of the Sacred Heart (K-12) Archbishop Chapelle High School Archbishop Hannan High School Archbishop Rummel High School Archbishop Shaw High School Brother Martin High School Cabrini High School De La Salle High School Holy Cross High School Holy Rosary High School Jesuit High School Mount Carmel Academy Pope John Paul II St. Charles Catholic High School St. Augustine High School Saint Mary's Academy St. Mary's Dominican High School St. Paul's School St. Scholastica Academy Ursuline Academy Xavier University Preparatory School Miscellany Newspaper Clarion Herald Sports league New Orleans Catholic League Catholicism Portal

Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Bishops Ordinaries Richard Vincent Whelan John Joseph Kain Patrick James Donahue John Joseph Swint Joseph Howard Hodges Francis B. Schulte Bernard William Schmitt Michael Joseph Bransfield Coadjutor Thomas John McDonnell Auxiliary James Edward Michaels Churches Cathedrals Cathedral of St. Joseph, Wheeling Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Charleston Parishes Good Shepherd Church, Coalburg St. Peter's Church, Harpers Ferry St. Francis Xavier Church, Parkersburg Former parishes St. Bernard Church, Camden St. Colman's Church, Dillon Education Higher education Wheeling Jesuit University High Schools Bishop Donahue Memorial High School, McMechen Charleston Catholic High School, Charleston Madonna High School, Weirton Notre Dame High School, Clarksburg Parkersburg Catholic High School, Parkersburg St. Joseph Central Catholic High School, Huntington Wheeling Central Catholic High School, Wheeling Former high school Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy, Wheeling Grade school Cathedral Parish School Catholicism Portal

Archdiocese of Philadelphia Ordinaries Bishops Michael Francis Egan, OFM Henry Conwell Francis Patrick Kenrick Saint John Nepomucene Neumann, CSsR Archbishops James Frederick Wood Patrick John Ryan Edmond Francis Prendergast Dennis Joseph Cardinal Dougherty John Francis Cardinal O'Hara, CSC John Joseph Cardinal Krol Anthony Joseph Cardinal Bevilacqua Justin Francis Cardinal Rigali Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Auxiliary Bishops, current Michael J. Fitzgerald John J. McIntyre Timothy C. Senior Auxiliary Bishops, former Cletus Joseph Benjamin Michael Francis Burbidge Joseph R. Cistone Michael Joseph Crane Edward Peter Cullen Louis A. DeSimone Francis James Furey John Joseph Graham Edward Hughes Hugh L. Lamb Martin Nicholas Lohmuller Robert P. Maginnis Joseph Francis Martino Joseph Carroll McCormick John Joseph McCort Gerald Vincent McDevitt Joseph P. McFadden Joseph Mark McShea Gerald Patrick O'Hara Francis B. Schulte Daniel Edward Thomas Thomas Jerome Welsh Churches Cathedral Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Parish churches Immaculate Conception Old St. Joseph Old St. Mary St. Adalbert St. Agatha and St. James St. Anne St. Augustine St. Basil the Great St. Cyprian St. Donato St. Francis de Sales St. Joachim St. Nicholas of Tolentine St. William Chapels and shrines National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa National Shrine of St. John Neumann Education Seminary St. Charles Borromeo Seminary Higher education Cabrini College Chestnut Hill College Gwynedd Mercy University Holy Family University Immaculata University La Salle University Neumann University Rosemont College Saint Joseph's University Villanova University High schools Academy of Notre Dame de Namur Archbishop John Carroll High School Archbishop Prendergast High School Archbishop Ryan High School Archbishop Wood Catholic High School Bishop McDevitt High School Bishop Shanahan High School Cardinal O'Hara High School Conwell-Egan Catholic High School Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Devon Preparatory School Father Judge High School Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School Holy Ghost Preparatory School John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School La Salle College High School Lansdale Catholic High School Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls Malvern Preparatory School Mercy Vocational High School Merion Mercy Academy Monsignor Bonner High School Mount Saint Joseph Academy Nazareth Academy High School Pope John Paul II High School Roman Catholic High School for Boys Saint Basil Academy Saint Joseph's Preparatory School Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls Villa Joseph Marie High School Villa Maria Academy Priests Living Edward Joseph Adams Herbert Bevard Michael Joseph Bransfield Francis Xavier DiLorenzo Joseph Anthony Galante James Patrick Green Joseph A. Pepe Nelson J. Perez Deceased Francis Brennan Edwin Byrne George Aloysius Carrell, SJ Hubert James Cartwright Joseph M. Corrigan Joseph Thomas Daley Edmond John Fitzmaurice John Edmund Fitzmaurice John Patrick Foley Francis Xavier Gartland Daniel James Gercke Ignatius Frederick Horstmann John Joseph Hughes Francis Edward Hyland Thomas Francis Kennedy Philip R. McDevitt Thomas Joseph McDonough Thomas McGovern Eugene J. McGuinness John Joseph O'Connor William O'Hara Jeremiah F. Shanahan John W. Shanahan David B. Thompson Miscellany Archdiocesan Boy Choir St. Francesca Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C. Catholic League The Catholic Standard & Times St. Katharine Drexel, S.B.S. Sexual abuse scandal Catholicism Portal