Richard Cushing
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
| Styles of Richard Cardinal Cushing | |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Boston (Emeritus) |
Richard James Cardinal Cushing (August 24, 1895—November 2, 1970) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958.
Biography
Richard Cushing was born in South Boston to Patrick and Mary (née Dahill) Cushing, Irish immigrants. Graduating from Boston College in 1917, he attended St. John's Seminary in Brighton and was later ordained to the priesthood by William Cardinal O'Connell on May 26, 1921. Cushing then did pastoral work in Boston until 1939. During that time, he also served as assistant director (1922-1929) and then director (1929-1944) of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and was raised to the rank of Monsignor on May 14, 1939.
On June 10, 1939, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Boston and Titular Bishop of Mela. Cushing received his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Cardinal O'Connell, with Bishops John Peterson and Thomas Emmet, SJ, serving as co-consecrators. He took as his episcopal motto: Ut Cognoscant Te ("That they may know thee").
Cushing was named the third Archbishop of Boston on September 25, 1944, following Cardinal O'Connell's death. Cushing was insistent in his efforts to persuade the U.S. government to engage in trade with the Fascist Spanish government of Francisco Franco. During his tenure, Boston would also see the excommunication of Fr. Leonard Feeney, SJ, for his stringent interpretation of the Catholic doctrine that there is no salvation outside the Church. Some authorities, such as the Boston Globe, accused Cushing's action as being merely political.
He was essentially tasked with making the Roman Catholic Church acceptable to the general American population in preparation for then-Senator John F. Kennedy's run for the White House. Part of this would include reaching out to the non-Catholics of Boston battered and scarred by the long sectarian reign of Cardinal O'Connell, who had made Boston into his own Hibernian and Catholic fiefdom (as per Militant and Triumphant: William Henry O'Connell and the Catholic Church in Boston, 1895-1944[1]).
Cushing was created Cardinal Priest of S. Susanna by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of December 15, 1958. He was also one of the cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave, which selected Pope Paul VI.
The Cardinal was a close friend of the Kennedy family. He officiated at the marriage of John F. Kennedy and Lee Bouvier in 1953, at which he also read a special prayer from Pope Pius XII, and baptized many of the Kennedy children. Cushing gave the prayer invocation at Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. The Cardinal also celebrated President Kennedy's funeral Mass in 1963 at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The day before the funeral, he gave a televised eulogy for the assassinated President. Cushing later publicly defended Jackie Kennedy after her marriage to divorced Aristotle Onassis in 1968, and subsequently received a large amount of hate mail and was even contradicted by the Vatican[2].
At the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Cushing played a vital role in drafting Nostra Aetate, the document that officially absolved the Jews of deicide. His emotional comments during debates over the drafts were echoed in the final version: "1. We must cast the Declaration on the Jews in a much more positive form, one not so timid, but much more loving...For the sake of our common heritage we, the children of Abraham according to the spirit, must foster a special reverence and love for the children of Abraham according to the flesh. As children of Adam, they are our kin, as children of Abraham they are Christ's blood relatives. 2. So far as the guilt of Jews in the death of our Saviour is concerned, the rejection of the Messiah by His own, is according to Scripture, a mystery—a mystery given us for our instruction, not for our self-exhaltation...We cannot sit in judgement on the onetime leaders of Israel—God alone is their judge. Much less can we burden later generations of Jews with any burden of guilt for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, for the death of the Saviour of the world, except that universal guilt in which we all have a part...In clear and unmistakable language, we must deny, therefore, that the Jews are guilty of our Saviour's death. We must condemn especially those who seek to justify, as Christian deeds, discriminaion, hated and even persecution of Jews...3. I ask myself, Venerable Brothers, whether we should not humbly acknowledge before the whole world that, toward their Jewish brethren, Christians have all too often not shown themselves as true Christians, as faithful followers of Christ. How many [Jews] have suffered in our own time? How many died because Christians were indifferent and kept silent?...If in recent years, not many Christian voices were raised against those injustices, at least let ours now be heard in humility" (Oesterreicher, p. 197-98).
He was deeply committed to implementing the Council's reforms and promoting renewal in the Church[3]. In an unprecedented gesture of ecumenism, he even encouraged Catholics to attend Billy Graham's crusades[4]. Moreover, Cushing condemned Communism, particularly the regime of Josip Broz Tito[5].
Cushing resigned as Boston's archbishop on September 8, 1970, after twenty-five years of service. Less than two months later, he died from cancer in Boston at age 75, and was buried at the chapel of St. Colette's School for Exceptional Children. His jovial and sometimes informal attitude made him a beloved figure of persons of all faiths, ages, and backgrounds[6].
Trivia
- His father, Patrick, was a blacksmith[7].
- He was a member of the NAACP, and a supporter of the John Birch Society[8].
- Cushing founded the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle in 1958 to "serve the needs of the poorest of the poor in South America"[9].
- He wrote the foreword for the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition of the Bible, and gave his imprimatur to the Oxford Annotated Bible.
- The now-closed women's college Cardinal Cushing College in Brookline, Massachusetts was named after him.
References
- ^ Boston Globe.'What Will Lake Street Think?' No Longer December 14, 2003
- ^ TIME Magazine. The Cardinal and Jackie November 1, 1968
- ^ TIME Magazine. The Unlikely Cardinal August 21, 1964
- ^ TIME Magazine. Big Man in a Long Red Robe November 16, 1970
- ^ TIME Magazine. How Are Things in Yugoslavia? September 1, 1947
- ^ TIME Magazine. Big Man in a Long Red Robe November 16, 1970
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ The Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle. Homepage
Episcopal succession
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