John Dearden

Template:Infobox cardinalbiog John Francis Cardinal Dearden (October 15 1907 – August 1 1988) was a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Detroit, Michigan, a cardinal, and the 7th Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dearden was named Archbishop by Pope John XXIII in 1958 and served as spiritual leader of some 1.2 million Roman Catholics in Detroit. He played an important role in Vatican Council II and served as the first president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1966-1971. He was elevated to Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1969. Within the Church he had a liberal reputation.

Born in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, he attended elementary school at Holy Trinity School and later at Cleveland, Ohio's St. Philomena School, where his family moved in 1918. Dearden graduated from Cathedral Latin School and St. Mary's, the Cleveland archdiocesan seminary. He did graduate work at the North American College in Rome as well as the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1932 he was ordained a priest.

Dearden served in parish assignments in Ohio before being named a professor of philosophy at St. Mary Seminary, where he was rector for several years. In 1950 he succeeded the late Hugh C. Boyle as Bishop of Pittsburgh, where he served for eight years. In 1958 Edward Cardinal Mooney died, and Dearden succeeded him as Archbishop of Detroit. He was installed January 29, 1959.

He died in 1988 in Detroit.

Reference

• Glenn, Francis A. (1993). Shepherds of the Faith 1843-1993: A Brief History of the Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. ISBN none.
• "John Francis Cardinal Dearden". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2006-10-06.