N.Y. Auxiliary Bishop Promoted Little Flower
Bishop Patrick V. Ahern, who served as an auxiliary bishop in the New York Archdiocese for nearly a quarter century, died March 19 at the Mary Manning Walsh Home, Manhat
Image via Wikipedia
His funeral Mass was celebrated March 24 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, followed by interment at the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Valhalla.
 |
Bishop Ahern, who retired in 1994, spent much of his time since then promoting devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux, known as the Little Flower. The late Cardinal John J. O'Connor credited him with playing a primary role in building support for the declaration of St. Therese as a doctor of the church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.
He also helped organize a national tour of the relics of St. Therese and wrote a book about the French saint's spiritual relationship with seminarian Maurice Belliere. The book, “Maurice & Therese: The Story of a Love,” took first place for best popular presentation of the Catholic faith in the Catholic Press Association’s 1999 book awards and also won a Christopher Award.
Bishop Ahern once said that St. Therese, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 24, “seemed to me to hold the answers to all of my questions.”
Born in Manhattan, Patrick Vincent Ahern attended Manhattan College and Cathedral College in Manhattan; St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers; St. Louis University; and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana before his Jan. 27, 1945, ordination as a priest of the New York Archdiocese.
He served as secretary to Cardinal Francis J. Spellman of New York from 1958 until the cardinal's death in 1967.
In 1970, while serving as pastor of Our Lady of Angels parish, the Bronx, he was named a bishop; Cardinal Terence J. Cooke ordained him to the episcopacy on March 19 of that year.
Bishop Ahern first was appointed episcopal vicar for the Bronx and, when the vicariate was divided in 1976, became episcopal vicar for the northwest Bronx. He was episcopal vicar for Staten Island, 1980-90, and vicar for development from 1990 until his retirement in 1994.
In 1986, he founded the Seton Foundation for Learning, the first Catholic special education program on Staten Island. Bishop Patrick Ahern H.S. opened in 2000 at Moore Catholic H.S. as an extension of that program.
He also showed a special concern for the homeless, helping to found Project Hospitality’s Carpenter House in Stapleton to provide case management, medical and psychiatric services, vocational rehabilitation, housing placement planning and other services to formerly homeless men and women.
Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please no anonymous comments. I require at least some way for people to address each other personally and courteously. Having some name or handle helps.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.