Gerald Patrick O'Hara

Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (May 4, 1895 – July 16, 1963) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (1929–1935), as bishop of the Diocese of Savannah in Georgia (1935–1959), as papal regent to Romania (1947–1950), apostolic nuncio to Ireland (1951–1954), and as apostolic delegate to Great Britain (1954–1963).

Biography

Early life and education Gerald O'Hara was born on May 4, 1895, in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Patrick James and Margaret (née Carney) O'Hara; both of whom were of Irish descent. His father was a dentist. He attended Our Mother of Sorrows School and St. Joseph's College High School, both in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned a doctorate in canon and civil law from the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare in 1924. Following his return to Pennsylvania in 1926, O'Hara became private secretary to Cardinal Dennis Dougherty, the archbishop of Philadelphia. O'Hara also served as a judge on the archdiocesan matrimonial court. The cathedral was built on the former site of Ku Klux Klan gatherings, and O'Hara even invited Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans to the dedication. O'Hara once criticized the Savannah Press after the newspaper ran a whimsical St. Patrick's Day editorial repeating an old story about Saint Patrick. He allegedly granted upper class women in Ireland to court men during leap years.

O'Hara was considered a leader in church efforts to improve race relations, launching a seven-point social and racial program in the 1930s, calling for aid to African American children and heightened awareness of rural issues.

On returning to New York City, O'Hara denied the Romanian allegations, calling them "lies from first to last". O'Hara accused the Romanian Government of terrorism, insisting, "Our interest was solely the welfare of 3,000,000 Catholic people in Romania."

Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain

On June 8, 1954, O'Hara was named apostolic delegate to Great Britain.

Drained by his dual duties as Papal diplomat and diocesan bishop, O'Hara resigned as Bishop of Savannah on November 12, 1959; he was named titular archbishop of Pessinus by Pope St. John XXIII on the same date. In 1960, O'Hara became the first Papal representative to visit the British Houses of Parliament in more than 400 years.