William Henry O'Connell was an American Archbishop of Boston Catholic Church from 1907, and later was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.
Background
William Henry O'Connell was the son of John and Bridget (Farley) O'Connell. His parents were married in County Cavan, Ireland, emigrated in 1848 by way of Montreal, Canada, to upper New York state, and settled finally in Lowell, Massachussets, in 1853. There William was born, the youngest of eleven children, seven of them boys. His father, a laborer in a textile mill, died in 1865, and William then became deeply devoted to his mother, who earnestly desired that he should enter the religious life.
Education
William O'Connell studied at the Protestant-dominated public schools of Lowell. Later he recalled his studying there with some bitterness, sharpened his identity as an Irish Catholic. After graduating from high school in 1876, O'Connell studied at St. Charles College near Baltimore. Illness, however, forced his return after two years, and he enrolled in the Jesuit-sponsored Boston College, graduating in 1881. Determined to become a priest, he approached Archbishop John Joseph Williams of Boston, who accepted him as a student and sent him for theological studies to the North American College in Rome. On June 7, 1884, O'Connell was ordained. In 1937, O'Connell was awarded an honorary degree from Harvard.
Career
William O'Connell was appointed assistant pastor in Medford, Massachussets, and later served St. Joseph's Church in the teeming West End of Boston. During these years he attained fame as an orator, widely in demand on public occasions for speeches dealing with Ireland and advocating personal temperance. He was offered several teaching posts and in 1895 attracted a great deal of attention when he gave a series of lectures on church history at the Catholic Summer School at Plattsburgh, New York.
In that same year, serious conflicts within the American Catholic Church led to the removal of Denis O'Connell as rector of the North American College in Rome. Denis O'Connell was a close associate of Archbishop John Ireland and other members of the hierarchy who were seeking to adapt the American Catholic Church to the needs of American society. Their efforts were frequently misunderstood by Roman officials and caused divisions within the American hierarchy. Wishing to remove the North American College from any association with these factional disputes, Archbishop Francesco Satolli, apostolic delegate to the United States, urged the appointment of William O'Connell, whom he had known as one of his students in Rome, as its new head. O'Connell was uninvolved with the internal controversies in the American church and hence was ideally suited to restore the college's position.
William O'Connell served as rector with distinction, improved the facilities of the college, and made further contacts within the Roman curia and in the American colony in Rome. In particular he was instrumental in securing the donation to the college of the Haywood Library of 8, 000 rare books. His services were recognized by commendations from Pope Leo XIII, by his appointment as a domestic prelate in June 1897, and, finally, by his nomination as bishop of Portland, Maine, in 1901, a nomination made by Rome in disregard of the wishes of the New England hierarchy and the Maine clergy.
In Portland, O'Connell reorganized diocesan administration, expanded the number of churches and priests, and fostered the growth of laymen's associations, while at the same time consciously seeking to improve relations between Catholics and Protestants.
In 1905, again recommended by one of his Roman friends, this time Cardinal Merry del Val, Papal Secretary of State, O'Connell was chosen by Pope Pius X to serve as special legate to the Japanese court to explore the possibility of Japanese-Vatican diplomatic relations and to report on the state of Catholicism in Japan. He spent several weeks in Japan and at the conclusion of his trip recommended changes in church policy there, including modification of French domination of missionary efforts and establishment of a Catholic university. These suggestions were followed, although diplomatic exchange was delayed by Japanese preoccupation with the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese war.
Rome was highly pleased with O'Connell's mission, and upon its completion he was named titular archbishop of Constantia and coadjutor to the archbishop of Boston with right of succession. Once again, O'Connell owed his elevation to his influence in Rome, and many priests in the diocese were displeased. Nevertheless, he was very close to the aging archbishop, John Williams, and he easily established his authority. When he formally assumed the leadership of the diocese after Williams's death in 1907, O'Connell was only forty-eight years old; he was destined to dominate the church in New England for almost forty years.
As archbishop of Boston he set out to modernize diocesan administration, and he soon made his diocese a model for others in the United States. The major feature of his work was the centralization of control in the hands of the archbishop, who operated through a diocesan curia which retained day-to-day supervision of the finances and operation of all diocesan institutions and imposed clear guidelines upon parish administration. Although during the first four years of O'Connell's tenure over thirty new church buildings were constructed, each was required to possess a large proportion of its cost before construction began. Many hitherto weak charitable foundations were reorganized in order to bring the scope of their work in line with the funds available. A Diocesan Charitable Bureau centralized and coordinated charitable activities, while a Diocesan House at Brighton became the focal point for all diocesan activities. Although some flexibility was lost by these changes, the efficiency of the church's work was undoubtedly enhanced.
Similarly, Archbishop O'Connell's efforts to expand education in the diocese were linked to sound and responsible financing and administrative centralization. Boston College received considerable diocesan support to build its new campus at Chestnut Hill and to extend its program to that of a full-fledged university. Other colleges and academies were enlarged and new ones begun, including Regis College for women, founded in 1927. Parish schools were expanded and educational administration was reorganized to provide for a regular system of curriculum, examinations, health services, and inspection. The expanded educational system required the services of increased numbers of teachers, so that during O'Connell's years as archbishop the number of religious in the diocese more than trebled. The most important of the diocesan schools was the seminary at Brighton. Here again, the Archbishop centralized control by removing the Sulpician Order and placing the seminary under his immediate supervision and providing it with a staff of diocesan priests.
Another of O'Connell's interests was lay organization. He insisted that branches of the Holy Name Society be set up in all parishes and fostered numerous professional guilds for Catholicmen. He promoted the growth of lay retreats in the diocese and encouraged the foundation and work of the Catholic Women's League, which concentrated on charitable and educational work, occasionally becoming involved in public issues.
In 1908 he purchased the Boston Pilot, which had originally been a diocesan organ but had been under private management for many years. The Pilot became an agency for communication within the diocese and a vehicle through which O'Connell could express his views on issues both within the church and within American society. O'Connell also made the Boston archdiocese the center of support for foreign missions. He aided one of his priests, James Anthony Walsh, in the formation of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America in 1911 and thereafter worked hard to secure financial support for the missions from the people of the diocese. Boston's contributions reached over $750, 000 annually in the last years of O'Connell's term of office.
His domination of the church in Boston extended beyond the organizational centralization which marked his administration and reflected the more sophisticated approach to diocesan management which was to replace the flexible response of the earlier generation to the huge waves of immigration in the nineteenth century. Once composed of outcasts from Ireland and Europe, the Catholic population during O'Connell's reign came to dominate the political life of Massachusetts.
In 1935 he played a crucial role in defeating a bill to establish a state lottery, and both in the 1920's and in the early 1930's he intervened to combat the proposed child labor amendment to the federal Constitution. O'Connell believed that the amendment could be used as a wedge to gain control of education by the federal government, a step he thought contained great potential harm for Catholic schools. His stand was successful in Massachusetts, where the amendment was twice overwhelmingly defeated, but it brought him into conflict with others in the American church. In national ecclesiastical affairs O'Connell was a staunch proponent of Roman authority and fought any move that would compromise papal authority or lessen the autonomy of individual bishops.
He was made a cardinal in 1911, and after the death of James Gibbons of Baltimore in 1921, O'Connell was the dean of the American hierarchy. He joined actively in the cooperative efforts of Catholic officials during World War I and in the formation of the National Catholic Welfare Conference after the war. Nevertheless, O'Connell fought hard to ensure that the N. C. W. C. remained a voluntary and advisory meeting of bishops whose decisions were not binding upon the individual prelate within his diocese. This position, together with his preoccupation with diocesan affairs, prevented him from becoming the kind of national leader that Gibbons had been or that Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York would be in later years.
During the depression of the 1930's O'Connell defended the rights of organized labor but at the same time damaged his own popularity by vigorously attacking Father Charles E. Coughlin, the radio orator. In later years he frequently pointed to the growing influence of Communist ideas in American society and encouraged lay efforts within his diocese to combat these developments.
Although sparing in his commitments to outside activities, he served as a trustee of the Boston Public Library (1932 - 1936) and occasionally joined other prominent citizens in organizations aimed at civic improvement.
With the aid of Richard J. Cushing, who became his auxiliary bishop in 1939, he continued to administer the diocese until the spring of 1944. He died that April, at the age of eighty-four, of a cerebral hemorrhage followed by pneumonia. According to his wishes, he was buried in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin which he had had built on the grounds of St. John's Seminary in Brighton.
Religion
During his career as cardinal O'Connell promoted unity of the Catholic Church, emphasizing its centralized control and loyalty to Rome. William O'Connell believed that the time had come for the church and its members to come to the fore and take a proud and unapologetic stance in relation to their fellow citizens.
From his contacts with the American colony in Rome he had come to appreciate the cultural sophistication of New England Protestants, particularly Episcopalians and Unitarians. Still, he was alert for any sign of revival of anti-Catholic bigotry and was unafraid to speak out on public issues which threatened Catholic interests or challenged Catholic morality.
Politics
A refined and cultured man, O'Connell was frequently disdainful of Irish-American mores and critical of Catholic politicians like James Michael Curley. He frequently issued pastoral letters on moral questions which touched upon the politics of the state. In addition, he occasionally took a direct part in opposing movements which he considered harmful to the interests of the church and to the welfare of the Commonwealth.
Personality
In his insistence on efficient administration, O'Connell did not hesitate to remove persons he felt were not doing their jobs well, a fact that may have contributed to his reputation for having a somewhat cold personality.
O'Connell's powerful oratory and overwhelming personality reflected the new self-confidence of the Catholic people. O'Connell was constantly in demand as a speaker at meetings of Catholic and Irish groups around the country.
