Church Leader. He was a priest for 58 years. Cardinal James Hickey served as Axillary Bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, Rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome and Bishop of Cleveland before Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Washington which covers the District and five counties in Maryland. He was a forceful advocate for immigrants and a champion of the poor. As a political activist, he opposed the gun lobby and military aid to the leftist government of El Salvador. President Carter agreed and suspended military help after the killing of four American missionaries, two of whom had been commissioned by Hickey. He had journeyed there for the funeral of slain Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a vocal foe of the Salvadoran government, who was shot dead while saying mass. He was among 30 Bishops who were forced to dive for cover wearing their vestments from an exploding bomb and resulting gunfire which left 40 dead. He dealt forthrightly with the sex-abuse scandal establishing a review board and a policy not to return abusive priests to the ministry. The Cardinal was born in Midland, Michigan. At age 13, was enrolled at St Joseph's Seminary in Grand Rapids and after graduation advanced to Sacred Heart Seminary College in Detroit and then to the University of America in Washington which ended in his ordination to the priesthood. After heading the Washington Diocese for twenty years, he retired dying soon after at age 84 in a nursing home operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, where he had lived for a year. He contracted pneumonia and with death imminent, clerics, including his successor Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the four nuns who cared for him gathered at his side as he passed away. His funeral mass was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception. Prior to the mass, hundreds of priest filed past his closed mahogany casket. High government official, members of Congress, local and federal judges and members of the diplomatic were in attendance. After the Mass, Cardinal Hickey was taken by procession to the Cathedral of St Matthew The Apostle and interred in the burial chamber at the Chapel of St Francis. He joined Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Washington's second archbishop who was placed there years before.
Church Leader. He was a priest for 58 years. Cardinal James Hickey served as Axillary Bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, Rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome and Bishop of Cleveland before Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Washington which covers the District and five counties in Maryland. He was a forceful advocate for immigrants and a champion of the poor. As a political activist, he opposed the gun lobby and military aid to the leftist government of El Salvador. President Carter agreed and suspended military help after the killing of four American missionaries, two of whom had been commissioned by Hickey. He had journeyed there for the funeral of slain Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a vocal foe of the Salvadoran government, who was shot dead while saying mass. He was among 30 Bishops who were forced to dive for cover wearing their vestments from an exploding bomb and resulting gunfire which left 40 dead. He dealt forthrightly with the sex-abuse scandal establishing a review board and a policy not to return abusive priests to the ministry. The Cardinal was born in Midland, Michigan. At age 13, was enrolled at St Joseph's Seminary in Grand Rapids and after graduation advanced to Sacred Heart Seminary College in Detroit and then to the University of America in Washington which ended in his ordination to the priesthood. After heading the Washington Diocese for twenty years, he retired dying soon after at age 84 in a nursing home operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, where he had lived for a year. He contracted pneumonia and with death imminent, clerics, including his successor Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the four nuns who cared for him gathered at his side as he passed away. His funeral mass was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception. Prior to the mass, hundreds of priest filed past his closed mahogany casket. High government official, members of Congress, local and federal judges and members of the diplomatic were in attendance. After the Mass, Cardinal Hickey was taken by procession to the Cathedral of St Matthew The Apostle and interred in the burial chamber at the Chapel of St Francis. He joined Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Washington's second archbishop who was placed there years before.
Bio by: Donald Greyfield
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