Paul John Hallinan

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Styles of
Paul John Hallinan
Reference style The Right Reverend
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Bishop
Posthumous style none


Bishop Paul Hallinan (April 8, 1911 – March 27, 1968) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Charleston from 1958 to 1962, and then as Archbishop of Atlanta until his death.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Painesville, Ohio, Paul John Hallinan was ordained to the priesthood on February 20, 1937, and then served as an army chaplain in the South Pacific during World War II.

On September 9, 1958, Hallinan was appointed Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following October 28 from Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, with Archbishop Edward Hoban and Bishop John Krol serving as co-consecrators.

In response to the low level of integration in Southern Catholic instiutions, Bishop Hallinan once said, "The Catholics are 1.3% of the population in our state. If the full federal power cannot carry this off, it's fatuous to think we can. I would take the risk on high moral principles, but it would be a hollow victory if it wrecked our school system or did harm to our children".[1]

Hallinan was later named Archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia, on February 19, 1962, and installed as such on March 29 of that same year. A prominent champion of social justice and civil rights, his first act as Archbishop was ordering the desegregation of all Roman Catholic schools and other institutions under his jurisdiction. Hallinan also sent priests and nuns to the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, and encouraged Atlantans to open their neighborhoods "so Negroes can exercise the right of every American to live where he wishes" in 1968.[2]

From 1962 to 1965, he attended the Second Vatican Council. Hallinan described the authorization of using the vernacular in the Mass by Sacrosanctum Concilium as "a vote against old ideas...[it] paves the way for everything else,"[3] and believed that Pope Paul VI's cautious approach to progress was necessary for the internal renewal of the Church, saying, "We need some kind of brake for safety's sake. If we move too fast, we may not have time to communicate properly with our clergy and our laymen".[4] In an attempt to give the laity greater participation in ecclesiastical affairs, he appointed more than 125 members of the laity to Church positions.[5]

The Archbishop sat on the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America, and opposed the removal of liberal theologian Charles Curran.[6]

From 1967 to 1968, Hallinan, who was ill, was assisted in the governance of the archdiocese by his protégée and auxiliary bishop, Joseph Bernardin, who would later become Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago.[7]

Archbishop Hallinan died after a long battle with acute hepatitis in Atlanta, aged 57.

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ TIME Magazine. Spirit v. Reality March 3, 1961
  2. ^ TIME Magazine. Milestones April 5, 1968
  3. ^ TIME Magazine. Man of the Year January 4, 1963
  4. ^ TIME Magazine. Reluctant Revolutionary September 24, 1965
  5. ^ TIME Magazine. Authority Under Fire March 19, 1965
  6. ^ TIME Magazine. Time for Boy Scouts? April 28, 1967
  7. ^ TIME Magazine. For the Windy City, Fresh Air September 6, 1982
  8. ^ TIME Magazine. Kudos June 15, 1962

[edit] External links

Preceded by
John Joyce Russell		 Bishop of Charleston
1958–1962		 Succeeded by
Francis Frederick Reh
Preceded by
Francis Edward Hyland		 Archbishop of Atlanta
1962–1968		 Succeeded by
Thomas Andrew Donnellan