Gerald O'Hara

Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (May 4, 1895—July 16, 1963) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Savannah (1935-59), Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland (1951-54), and Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain (1954-63).

Early life and education

Gerald O'Hara was born in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Patrick James and Margaret (née Carney) O'Hara. His father was a dentist. He attended Our Mother of Sorrows School and St. Joseph's College High School, both in Philadelphia. From 1911 to 1918, he studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook. He then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Roman Seminary, from where he obtained a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1921.

Priesthood

O'Hara was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basilio Pompilj on April 3, 1920. He earned a doctorate in canon and civil law from the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare in 1924. He spent several years studying abroad, traveling through Europe and the Middle East. Following his return to Pennsylvania in 1926, O'Hara became private secretary to Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty, the Archbishop of Philadelphia. He also served as a judge on the archdiocesan matrimonial court.

Episcopacy

On April 26, 1929, O'Hara was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop of Heliopolis in Phoenicia by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 21 from Cardinal Dougherty, with Bishops John Bernard MacGinley and Thomas Charles O'Reilly serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul. In addition to his episcopal duties, he served as pastor of the Church of the Nativity and vicar general of the archdiocese. He was also president of the American Catholic Historical Association from 1934 to 1936.

On November 26, 1935, O'Hara was appointed the ninth Bishop of Savannah, Georgia, succeeding the retiring Bishop Michael Joseph Keyes. During his tenure, he erected the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, which was dedicated by Cardinal Dougherty in January 1939. The cathedral was built on the former site of Ku Klux Klan gatherings, and O'Hara even invited Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans to the dedication. He once stormed at the office of a Savannah newspaper after the paper claimed that Saint Patrick once granted women the privilege to woo during Leap Year. Known as a liberal who was a leader in church efforts to improve race relations, he launched a seven-point social and racial program in the 1930s, calling for aid to African American children and heightened awareness of rural issues.

In addition to his role as diocesan bishop, O'Hara was named regent of the Apostolic Nunciature to Romania, in Bucharest, on February 19, 1947. His vicar general and chancellor assumed the active administration of the diocese. During his time there, he became an outspoken opponent of the Communist regime. However, in 1950, the Romanian government accused him of espionage and expelled them from the country. Specifically, he was charged with supplying military, political, and economic information to Western legations; he denied the accusations, calling them "lies from first to last." Returning to the United States, he accused the Romanians of terrorism, insisting, "Our interest was solely the welfare of 3,000,000 Catholic people in Romania." On July 12, 1950, O'Hara was given the personal title of Archbishop by Pope Pius XII. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland on November 27, 1951. In 1953 Paul Blanshard, author of American Freedom and Catholic Power, unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Department of State to revoke O'Hara's citizenship because Blanshard believed that, as an American-born bishop with an American diocese working in Ireland, he was violating the McCarran Act by serving as an agent of a foreign power.

On June 8, 1954, O'Hara was named Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain. As Apostolic Delegate, his jurisdiction also included Malta, Gibraltar, and Bermuda. Drained by his dual duties as papal diplomat and diocesan bishop, he resigned as Bishop of Savannah on November 12, 1959; he was named Titular Archbishop of Pessinus by Pope John XXIII on the same date. In 1960 he became the first papal representative to visit the Houses of Parliament in more than 400 years. O'Hara later died from a heart attack at his residence in Wimbledon section of London, aged 68. His Requiem Mass was celebrated by Archbishop John Carmel Heenan at Westminster Cathedral. His body was then flown back to Philadelphia, where he is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul.