Background
James Edward Dempsey was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Joseph M. Demspey and Julia Mary McSherry.
James Edward Dempsey was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Joseph M. Demspey and Julia Mary McSherry.
He was educated at Saint Mary"s Grade School, LaSalle Academy and Providence College all in Providence.
He served as the bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto in Nigeria from 1967-1984. Dempsey entered the Dominican novitiate at Saint Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky and took the religious name Michael. He made his first profession of vows on August 16, 1936.
Philosophical studies were taken at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois and Dempsey made his solemn profession on August 16, 1939.
He decided to join the newly established Province of Saint Albert the Great and continued his theological studies at River Forest. Dempsey was ordained a priest by Bishop Bernard J. Sheil on June 11, 1942.
Michael Dempsey taught English and religion at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois from 1943 to 1950. At the same time he obtained a master"s degree in English literature at DePaul University in Chicago.
In 1951 he entered the missionary field in Nigeria.
He served five terms as pastor and local superior at Saint Dominic"s Parish in Yaba, Lagos. He was on leave from January 24, 1955 to February 2, 1956. When he returned he was made the Vicar Provincial for the Dominicans of Nigeria.
His responsibilities were reduced to Yaba from 1959 to 1962.
On August 27, 1965 Dempsey was appointed the vicar of the Nigerian Vicarate. On July 13, 1967 Pope Paul VI appointed him as the He was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal John Cody of Chicago on August 15, 1967 at Saint Pius V Church in Chicago.
The principal co-consecrators were Archbishop John Kwao Amuzu Aggey of Lagos and Chicago auxiliary bishop Aloysius John Wycislo. He was installed as the diocesan bishop in Sokoto on October 1, 1967 and continued to serve there until his resignation was accepted by Pope John Paul II on December 3, 1984.
Prior to his appointment as bishop there were anti-Igbo and anti-Christian riots in 1966 that left the diocese of Sokoto without most of its people, its only indigenous priest fled, and many of its church buildings destroyed.
He focused on the northern part of his diocese where the people remained and opened the first secondary school in Gusau in 1968. The civil war ended in 1970 and the Catholic people began to return to the Sokoto diocese. The oil industry expanded in the 1970s and that helped to increase the size of the diocese.
The Dominican sisters began a congregation in Gusau.
The catechetical school at Malumfashi trained catechists for northern Nigeria. Successful evangelization efforts were made among the Hausa people.
Dempsey suffered several minor strokes toward the end of his time as bishop. He was also the only non-Nigerian bishop in the country.
He had to check in and out with the police when he left Sokoto State to entered Katsina State, which was also a part the diocese.
In the autumn of 1985 Dempsey returned to the United States. He took up residence at Saint Dominic Priory in Denver, Colorado and helped out at Saint Dominic parish where he ministered to the sick and aged. He died there at the age of 84 on March 19, 1996.
Archbishop J. Francis Stafford of Denver celebrated the funeral on March 25, 1996 at Saint Dominic"s Church.
Bishop Dempsey was buried in the Dominican plot at Mount Olivet Cemetery.