John Joseph O'Connor

:Cardinal O'Connor redirects here. For the Cardinal of Westminster, see Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
:For the former US Representative from New York, see John J. O'Connor.
:For the deceased bishop of Newark, see J. J. O'Connor of Newark.
John Joseph O'Connor, (January 15, 1920 – May 3, 2000) was the eleventh bishop (eighth archbishop) of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, serving from 1984 until his death in 2000. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985.
==Early life and education==
O'Connor was born in Philadelphia, the fourth of five children born to Thomas O'Connor and Mary Gomble O’Connor.EWTN, In Memoriam retrieved 12-31-08 He attended public schools until his junior year of high school, when he enrolled in West Catholic High. After graduating from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, he was ordained a priest on December 15, 1945. He was initially assigned to St. James High School in Chester, Pennsylvania. He obtained a master's degree in advanced ethics from Villanova University and a doctorate in political science from Georgetown University in 1970, where he took classes at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and wrote his dissertation under future United Nations ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick. He joined the United States Navy in 1952 as a Korean War chaplain, often entering combat zones in order to say Mass and administer last rites to soldiers. He rose through the ranks to become rear admiral and chief of Navy chaplains.
==Consecration as Bishop==
O'Connor was made a Honorary Prelate of His Holiness and given the title of Monsignor on October 27, 1966. On April 24, 1979, Pope John Paul II designated him auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services and titular bishop of Cursola. O'Connor was consecrated to the episcopate on May 27, 1979 at St. Peter's Basilica, Rome by John Paul II with Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy and Eduardo Martínez Somalo as co-consecrators. 
On May 6, 1983, John Paul II named O'Connor Bishop of Scranton, and he was installed in that position on the following June 29.
==Archbishop of New York==
On January 26, 1984, after the death of Terence Cooke three months earlier, O'Connor was appointed Archbishop of New York, and installed on March 19. He was elevated to Cardinal in the consistory of May 25, 1985, with the titular church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Rome, the traditional titulus of the Archbishop of New York. 
As Archbishop of New York, O'Connor skillfully brought to bear the power and prestige of his office to bear witness to traditional Catholic doctrine. Upon his death, the New York Times called O'Connor "a familiar and towering presence, a leader whose views and personality were forcefully injected into the great civic debates of his time, a man who considered himself a conciliator, but who never hesitated to be a combatant", and one of the Catholic Church's "most powerful symbols on moral and political issues." "Death of a Cardinal; Cardinal O'Connor, 80, Dies; Forceful Voice for Vatican", New York Times, May 4, 2000; retrieved 12-31-08
===Pro-life advocacy===
O'Connor believed in protecting all human life, from the unborn to convicts on death row. He was a forceful opponent of abortion, human cloning, capital punishment, human trafficking, and unjust war."Abortion: Questions and Answers", July 1990;Catholic New York; retrieved 12-31-08"Conditions for a Just War", Catholic New York April 26, 1999; retrieved 12-31-08 Horrified by a visit to Dachau concentration camp, O'Connor was inspired to found a religious order that would serve the unborn and dying and be dedicated to the sanctity of all human life.Sisters of Life official history In 1991 his dream was realized in the Sisters of Life. He assailed what he called the "horror of euthanasia", asking rhetorically, "What makes us think that permitted lawful suicide will not become obligated suicide?""Cardinal's Easter Joy Is Tempered by Court Ruling on Aided Suicide", New York Times, April 8, 1996; retrieved January 7, 2009
In 2000, O'Connor called for a "major overhaul" of the punitive Rockefeller drug laws, which he believed produced "grave injustices"."The Rockefeller Drug Laws", Catholic New York February 3, 2000; retrieved 1/2/09
===Critiques of U.S. military actions===
Despite his years spent as a Navy chaplain, O'Connor offered severe critiques of some United States military policies. In the 1980s, he condemned U.S. support for counterrevolutionary guerrilla forces in Central America, opposed the U.S.'s mining of the waters off Nicaragua, questioned spending on new weapons systems, and preached caution in regard to American military actions abroad. 
In 1998, he questioned whether the United States' cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan were morally justifiable."Were the Attacks Morally Justifiable?", Catholic New York, August 27, 1998; retrieved 1/2/09 In 1999, during the Kosovo War, he used his weekly column in the archdiocesan newspaper, Catholic New York, to challenge repeatedly the morality of NATO's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia,"Many Moral Questions on Kosovo Conflict", Catholic New York, June 3, 1999; retrieved 1/2/09 suggesting that it did not meet the Catholic Church's criteria for a just war,"Conditions for a Just War", Catholic New York, April 29, 1999; retrieved 1/2/09 and going so far as to ask, "Does the relentless bombing of Yugoslavia prove the power of the Western world or its weakness?""Ten Good Men for a Power-Mad World", Catholic New York, May 13, 1999; retrieved 1/2/09 Three years before the 9/11 attacks on New York City, O'Connor insisted that the traditional just war principles must be applied to evaluate the morality of military responses to unconventional warfare and terrorism.
===Organized labor relations===
O'Connor's father was a union member, and O'Connor was also a passionate defender of organized labor and an advocate for the poor and the homeless. Early in his tenure, O'Connor set a pro-labor direction for the Archdiocese. During a strike in 1984 by 1199, the largest health care workers union in New York, O'Connor strongly criticized the League of Voluntary Hospitals, of which the Archdiocese was a member, for threatening to fire striking union members who refused to return to work, calling it "strikebreaking" and vowing that no Catholic hospital would do so."O'Connor Says He May Uphold Hospital Accord", New York Times, September 2, 1985; retrieved 1-3-09 The following year, when a contract with 1199 still had not been reached, he threatened to break with the League and settle with the union unilaterally to reach an agreement "that gives justice to the workers".
In his homily during a Labor Day Mass at St. Patrick's in 1986, O'Connor expressed his strong commitment to organized labor: [S]o many of our freedoms in this country, so much of the building up of society, is precisely attributable to the union movement, a movement that I personally will defend despite the weakness of some of its members, despite the corruption with which we are all familiar that pervades all society, a movement that I personally will defend with my life....
In 1987, when the television broadcast employees union was on strike against NBC, a non-union crew from NBC appeared at the Cardinal's residence to cover one of O'Connor's press conferences. O'Connor declined to admit them, directing his secretary to "tell them they're not invited."
Following his death, SEIU 1199, published a 12-page tribute to O'Connor, calling him "the patron saint of working people" and describing his support for low-wage and other workers and his efforts in helping limousine drivers unionize, helping end the strike at The Daily News in 1990, and pushing for fringe benefits for minimum-wage home health care workers."Union Celebrates O'Connor's Labor Views", New York Times, July 24, 2000; retrieved 1-2-09
===Relations with the Jewish community===
O'Connor played an active role in Catholic-Jewish relations. He strongly denounced anti-Semitism, declaring that one "cannot be a faithful Christian and an anti-Semite. They are incompatible, because anti-Semitism is a sin."A. James Rudin, "A Jewish-Catholic Friendship", America, August 29, 2005 He wrote an apology to Jewish leaders in New York for past harm done to the Jewish community."The Cardinal's Epistles to the Jews," by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, The Jewish Week, May 12, 2000 
O'Connor criticized Swiss banks' failure to compensate victims of the Holocaust, which he called "a human rights issue, an issue of the human race.""When Will the Holocaust Really End?", Catholic New York August 16, 1998; retrieved 1/2/09 Even when disagreeing with him over political questions, Jewish leaders acknowledged that O'Connor was "a friend, a powerful voice against anti-Semitism"."O'Connor Is Upset by Critics of Trip", New York Times, January 12, 1987; retrieved January 1, 2009
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs called him, "a true friend and champion of Catholic-Jewish relations [and] a humanitarian who used the power of his pulpit to advocate for disadvantaged people throughout the world and in his own community." Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel called O'Connor, "a good Christian" and a man "who understands our pain.""Religion Notes; For Cardinal, Wiesel Visit Proved a Calm in Storm Over Trip", New York Times, February 15, 1987; retrieved January 7, 2009
===Relations with the gay community===
O'Connor adhered to the traditional Catholic teaching that homosexual acts are contrary to natural law, intrinsically immoral and therefore never permissible, while homosexual desires are intrinsically disordered but not in themselves sinful. He resisted attempts within the Church to modify that traditional understanding and was frequently at odds with New York's gay community during his tenure as Archbishop.
O'Connor actively opposed Executive Order 50, a mayoral order issued in 1980 by Mayor Ed Koch, which required all City contractors, including religious entities, to provide services on a non-discriminatory basis with respect to race, creed, age, sex, handicap, as well as "sexual orientation or affectational preference"."Archdiocese Challenges Koch's Order on Hiring", New York Times, November 27, 1984; retrieved January 2, 2009 After the Salvation Army received a warning from the City that its contracts for child care services would be canceled for refusing to comply with the executive order's provisions regarding sexual orientation, the Archdiocese of New York and Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish organization, threatened to cancel their contracts with the City if forced to comply. O'Connor maintained that the executive order would cause the Church to appear to condone homosexual practices and lifestyle. Writing in Catholic New York in January 1985, O'Connor characterized the order as "an exceedingly dangerous precedent [that would] invite unacceptable governmental intrusion into and excessive entanglement with the Church's conducting of its own internal affairs." Drawing the traditional Catholic distinction between homosexual "inclinations" and "behavior", he stated that "we do not believe that homosexual behavior ... should be elevated to a protected category." We do not believe that religious agencies should be required to employ those engaging in or advocating homosexual behavior. We are willing to consider on a case-by-case basis the employment of individuals who have engaged in or may at some future time engage in homosexual behavior. We approach those who have engaged in or may engage in what the Church considers illicit heterosexual behavior the same way.... We believe, however, that only a religious agency itself can properly determine the requirements of any particular job within that agency, and whether or not a particular individual meets or is reasonably likely to meet such requirements. Subsequently, the Salvation Army, the Archdiocese and Agudath Israel, together with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, brought suit against the City of New York to overturn the executive order on the grounds that the Mayor had exceeded his executive authority in issuing it."Archdiocese Challenges Koch's Order on Hiring, New York Times, November 27, 1984; retrieved 1-2-09 In September 1984, the New York Supreme Court agreed with the religious entities and struck down that part of the executive order that prohibited discrimination based upon "sexual orientation or affectational preference" on the grounds that the Mayor had exceeded his authority. In June 1985, New York's highest court upheld the lower court's decision striking down the executive order."Brooklyn Diocese Joins Homosexual-Bill Fight", New York Times, February 7, 1986; retrieved 1-1-09 
O'Connor vigorously and actively opposed City and State legislation guaranteeing the civil rights of homosexual persons, including legislation (supported by then-Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani) prohibiting discrimination based upon sexual orientation in housing, public accommodations and employment.
O'Connor also supported the decision by the Ancient Order of Hibernians to exclude the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization from marching as such under its own banner in New York's St. Patrick's Day parade. The Hibernians argued that their decision as to which organizations may march in the parade, which honors St. Patrick, a Catholic saint, was protected by the First Amendment and that they could not be compelled to admit a group whose beliefs conflicted with theirs."Irish Parade Becomes a Political Hurdle", New York Times, March 16, 1994; retrieved January 4, 2009 In 1992, in a decision criticized by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the City of New York ordered the Hibernians to admit the gay organization to march in the parade."Gay Irish Win Right to a Parade That Might Die", New York Times, October 29, 1992; retrieved January 4, 2009 The City subsequently denied the Hibernians a permit for the parade until, in 1993, a federal judge in New York held that the City's permit denial was "patently unconstitutional" because the parade was private, not public, and constituted "a pristine form of speech" as to which the parade sponsor had a right to control the content and tone.Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, March 1994, Lesbian & Gay Law Ass'n of Greater NY; retrieved January 4, 2009
O'Connor also prohibited a pro-homosexual group from meeting in New York parishes. O'Connor celebrated Mass with members of Courage, a Catholic ministry to homosexual men and women that seeks to encourage them to abstain from sexual relations and live chastely in accordance with church teachings.
===HIV and contraception controversy===
The Cardinal opposed condom distribution as an AIDS-prevention measure, viewing it as being contrary to the Church's teaching that contraception is immoral and its use a sin. O'Connor rejected the argument that condoms distributed to gay men are not contraceptives. O'Connor's response was that using an "evil act" was not justified by good intentions, and that the Church should not be seen as encouraging sinful acts among others (other fertile heterosexual couples who might wrongly interpret his narrow support as license for their own contraception). He also claimed that sexual abstinence is a sure way to prevent infection,, claiming condoms were only 50% effective against HIV transmission. HIV activist group ACT-UP was appalled by the Cardinal's apparent opinion that it was sinful for an HIV positive person to use a condom to prevent transmission of HIV to his HIV negative partner, an opinion they believe would translate directly into more deaths. This caused many of the confrontations between the group and the Cardinal.
Cardinal O'Connor considered himself very supportive of those who were infected with AIDS and HIV. Early on in the AIDS epidemic, he approved the opening of a specialized AIDS unit to provide medical care for the sick and dying in St. Clare's Hospital in Manhattan, the first of its kind in the state. He often nurtured and ministered to dying AIDS patients, many of whom were homosexual. Even though he frequently condemned homosexuals (some members of ACT-UP had protested in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in O'Connor's absence, to protest, holding placards such as "Cardinal O'Connor Loves Gay People...If They Are Dying of AIDS", when O'Connor had been appointed to Reagan's AIDS commission
), he would not allow his moral differences to interfere with ministering to them. As USA Today reported, he "washed the hair and emptied bedpans of dying AIDS patients, some too sick to know who he was." Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo once said "No place in the country are they working more aggressively to help AIDS patients than in the archdiocese."
In 1987, O'Connor was appointed to President Ronald Reagan's Commission on the HIV Epidemic, known as the Watkins Commission, serving alongside 12 other members, none of whom were AIDS experts, including James D. Watkins, Richard DeVos and Penny Pullen. The Commission was initially controversial among HIV researchers and activists as lacking expertise on the disease and as being in disarray."AIDS Panel Head Says Rift Is Over", New York Times, November 11, 1987; retrieved January 6, 2009 The Watkins Commission surprised many of its critics, however, by issuing a final report in 1988 that lent conservative support for antibias laws to protect HIV-positive people, on-demand treatment for drug addicts, and the speeding of AIDS-related research.Gilden, Dave, "Politics Before Science?", HIV Plus, April 2003; retrieved January 6, 2009 The New York Times praised the Commission's "remarkable strides" and its proposed $2 billion campaign against AIDS among drug addicts."The Right Fight Against AIDS; As the Admiral Says, Focus on Addicts", New York Times, February 28, 1988; retrieved January 6, 2009 The Watkins Commission's recommendations were similar to the recommendations subsequently made by a committee of HIV experts appointed by the National Academy of Sciences."Expert Panel Sees Poor Leadership in U.S. AIDS Battle", New York Times, June 2, 1988; retrieved January 6, 2009
===Illness and death===
When O'Connor reached the retirement age for bishops of 75 in January 1995, he submitted his resignation to the Pope as required, but the Pope did not accept it. In 1999, O'Connor was diagnosed as having a brain tumor, to which he eventually succumbed. He continued to serve as Archbishop of New York until his death. He died in the Archbishop's residence on May 3, 2000 and was interred in the crypt beneath the altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Former President George H.W. Bush, Governor of Texas George W. Bush, New York Governor George Pataki and New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani were among the dignitaries who attended his funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano."O'Connor entombed at St. Patrick's Cathedral"; May 8, 2000; USA Today; url accessed March 13, 2007 The eulogy was delivered by Cardinal William W. Baum."He Hasn't Left", January 2000; Catholic New York; retrieved 12-31-08 He was succeeded as Archbishop of New York by Edward Egan.
==Legacy==
Cardinal O'Connor was posthumously awarded the Jackie Robinson Empire State Medal of Freedom by the Governor of New York George Pataki on December 21, 2000. On March 7, 2000 O'Connor was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by unanimous support in the United States Senate and only one vote against the resolution in the United States House of Representatives. Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian Republican from Texas, opposed on the grounds that awarding the medal was not among the powers of Congress listed in the Constitution. 
O'Connor's tenure earned him the enmity of New York's gay community. O'Connor was a favorite object of scorn and ridicule in ACT UP's demonstrations, the most prominent of which was a protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral on December 10, 1989. Michael Petrelis, a founding member of ACT UP, was arrested along with 110 others. "We will not be silent,", he screamed before his arrest. "We will fight O'Connor's bigotry".. Later, he indicated that the group "came to St. Patrick's in 1989 to repel the church's destructive intrusion into public policies concerning AIDS, gay civil rights and women's reproductive rights." 
The strong feelings that Cardinal O'Connor's campaigning against gay civil rights inspired were evoked at his passing, when Time Out New York, a weekly city entertainment guide, expressed relief at his death, calling it one of the best things to happen to the gay community in 2000, saying "The press eulogized him as a saint, when in fact, the pious creep was a stuck-in-the-1950s anti-gay menace. Good riddance!". The resulting cries of outrage forced the magazine to apologize for the insensitive tone of the statement, but Time Out New York stood by its view that the Cardinal was an "impediment to gay and lesbian progress. Carmen Vázquez, a spokeswoman for the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, opined that Cardinal O’Connor had "made the lives of gays and lesbians miserable with his public comments and opposition to their way of life." Brendan Fay, of the Catholic gay group DignityUSA, summarized that "O'Connor will certainly not be remembered as a friend or advocate at our time of greatest need." (O'Connor had issued an order ending Dignity's masses in 1987, sparking protests. O'Connor had Dignity legally banned from attending services in the cathedral. After eight years of protests by the group, O'Connor started meeting with the group twice a year.) Fay continued, saying that the cardinal's famed compassion did not extend to homosexuals. "What we will maybe remember most as representative of the cardinal's stance toward our community is the closed doors of the cathedral."
Jeff Stone, a spokesman for DignityUSA, did note, "We are saddened by his death." 
To honor his distinguished service as a US Navy chaplain, the Catholic Center at the Naval Post-Graduate School, Monterey, CA, is named the O'Connor Center. The largest student run pro-life conference in the U.S. is named in his honor. It is held every year at Georgetown University the day before the annual March for Life. 
==Episcopal succession==
==See also==
*List of Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops of New York
*List of living cardinals
*United States Navy Chaplain Corps
*Religion and AIDS
==References==
==External links==
* Video of 1994 interview of Cardinal O'Connor on The Charlie Rose Show
* Catholic New York, the official paper of the archdiocese, stories on Cardinal O'Connor 
* Anna Quindlen, "Public and Private", New York Times 17 February 1993
* President George W. Bush, speaking in St. Patrick's Cathedral when he posthumously gave the Congressional Gold Medal to Cardinal O'Connor, 10 July 2001
* Archive of Cardinal O'Connor's weekly columns in Catholic New York
* WCBS-AM New York report by Rich Lamb on the Cardinal's death
* Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life
Category:1920 births
Category:2000 deaths
Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops
Category:American cardinals
Category:American chaplains
Category:American pro-life activists
Category:American Roman Catholics
Category:Cancer deaths in New York
Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients
Category:Deaths from brain cancer
Category:Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
Category:Founders of Roman Catholic religious communities
Category:Irish-American religious figures
Category:Irish Americans
Category:Knights of Malta
Category:Military chaplains
Category:Naval chaplains
Category:People from New York City
Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Category:People from Scranton, Pennsylvania
Category:Roman Catholic Archbishops of New York
Category:The Catholic University of America
Category:United States Navy admirals
Category:Villanova University alumni
Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
de:John Joseph O’Connor (New York)
fr:John Joseph O'Connor
it:John Joseph O'Connor
la:Ioannes Iosephus O’Connor
no:John Joseph O'Connor
pl:John Joseph O'Connor
pt:John Joseph O'Connor