USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Newark Archbishop Named to Washington, D.C.

Newark Archbishop Named to Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON (November 20, 2000) -- Pope John Paul II has named Newark Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick to be Archbishop of Washington, D.C., succeeding Cardinal James A. Hickey whose resignation the Holy Father also accepted at this time.

Cardinal Hickey will be the archdiocese's Apostolic Administrator until the installation of Archbishop McCarrick.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement.

Theodore Edgar McCarrick was born in New York City on July 7, 1930. He received his elementary and high school education at Incarnation School and Fordham Preparatory School, respectively, both in New York City.

He studied for the priesthood at the New York Archdiocesan Seminary, St. Joseph's, in Yonkers, New York, and was ordained a priest on May 31, 1958.

After ordination, Father McCarrick pursued studies at the Catholic University of America (CUA), Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of Puerto Rico. He then served at CUA as assistant chaplain, dean of students and director of development. From 1965 to 1969, now-Monsignor McCarrick served as president of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

Monsignor McCarrick returned to the Archdiocese of New York to serve as associate secretary for education from 1969 to 1971 and then secretary to the Archbishop, Servant of God Cardinal Terence Cooke, from 1971 to 1977.

Monsignor McCarrick was named bishop of Rusibisir and auxiliary bishop of New York on May 24, 1977, and ordained a bishop on June 29.

Bishop McCarrick was named the first bishop of the diocese of Metuchen on November 19, 1981, and archbishop of Newark on May 30, 1986. He was installed in Newark on July 25, 1986.

Archbishop McCarrick holds a master's degree in history from St. Joseph's Seminary and a master's degree and doctorate in social sciences from the Catholic University of America.

Archbishop McCarrick has served on numerous committees of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/U.S. Catholic Conference. He has chaired those on Migration, International Policy, and Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

In 1998, Archbishop McCarrick was part of the three-member delegation of religious leaders which was invited to visit China after the 1997 summit meeting in Washington between President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Archbishop McCarrick also serves on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom established by Congress in 1998.

Cardinal James Aloysius Hickey was born in Midland, Michigan, on October 11, 1920. He was ordained to the priesthood June 15, 1946, for the Diocese of Saginaw. He served there as an associate pastor, director of vocations and rector of the seminary. He was named bishop of Taraqua and auxiliary bishop of Saginaw on February 22, 1967, and was ordained a bishop on April 14 of that year.

Bishop Hickey was named rector of the North American College, Rome, in 1969. He served there until 1974 when he was appointed bishop of Cleveland. He was named archbishop of Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1980, and elevated to the College of Cardinals on June 28, 1988.

Cardinal Hickey holds doctorates in canon law and theology from the Lateran and Angelicum universities, respectively, both in Rome.

The Archdiocese of Washington comprises the District of Columbia and Montgomery, Prince George's, St. Mary's, Calvert and Charles Counties, Maryland. It has a Catholic population of approximately 510,000 out of a total population of 2.41 million.

The Province of Washington has as a Suffragan the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.