Robert Joseph Cunningham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Styles of
Robert Joseph Cunningham
Reference style The Most Reverend
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Monsignor
Posthumous style not applicable


Robert Joseph Cunningham (born June 18, 1943) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the thirteenth and current Bishop of Ogdensburg.

[edit] Biography

Robert Cunningham was born in Buffalo, New York, to Cecil and Grace Cunningham; he has a brother, Patrick, and a sister, Eileen. He attended St. John the Baptist Parish School and the Diocesan Preparatory Seminary before entering St. John Vianney Seminary (currently Christ the King Seminary) in East Aurora, from where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees. Cunningham was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Bernard McLaughlin on May 24, 1969, in St. Joseph Cathedral, and then served as associate pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Kenmore. In 1972, he was named assistant pastor at his home parish of St. John the Baptist, also in Kenmore.

He was became private secretary to Bishop Edward Head and assistant chancellor of of Buffalo in 1974. Cunningham, after earning his licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of America in 1978, was made a judge of the marriage tribunal and vice-chancellor of the diocese. He was raised to the rank of Monsignor in 1984, and then full chancellor (1985) and vicar general (1986) of Buffalo. Niagara University awarded him an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1991.

In January 2002, Cunningham was named pastor of Louis Church in Buffalo. He was administrator of the diocesan College of Consultors from 2003 to 2004, as well as sitting on the boards of Christ the King Seminary, Catholic Charities, Baker Victory Services, the Cantalician Center, and the former Wadhams Hall Seminary College. A charter member of the Kenmore Mercy Hospital Foundation Board, he was given the Sister Mary Mechtilde Memorial Award by the Foundation Board in 2004.

On March 9, 2004, Cunningham was appointed the thirteenth Bishop of Ogdensburg by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 18 from Edward Cardinal Egan, with Archbishop Henry Mansell and Bishop Gerald Barbarito serving as co-consecrators, at St. Mary's Cathedral.

In 2007, he was awarded with another honorary doctorate in humane letters from St. John’s University in Staten Island. The Bishop currently chairs the Board of Managers of St. Joseph’s Home in Ogdensburg and the Board of diocesan Catholic Charities.

[edit] External link

Preceded by
Gerald Michael Barbarito		 Bishop of Ogdensburg
2004–present		 Succeeded by
incumbent