Paul John Hallinan

Paul John Hallinan (April 8, 1911 – March 27, 1968) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of Charleston in South Carolina (1958 – 1962) and as archbishop of Atlanta in Georgia (1962 – 1968). Hallinan was known as a champion of racial equality and liturgical reform.

Biography

Early life Paul Hallinan was born on April 8, 1911, in Painesville, Ohio, to Clarence C. and Rose Jane (née Laracy) Hallinan. All of his grandparents immigrated from Ireland. From 1924 to 1928, he attended Cathedral Latin School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he edited the high school yearbook.

Hallinan then studied at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1932. His first assignment was as a curate at St. Aloysius Parish in Cleveland, where he remained for five years. he earned a Master of Arts degree from John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, in 1953. From 1952 to 1954, Hallinan served as national chaplain of the National Newman Club Federation.

Archbishop of Atlanta The Diocese of Atlanta was raised to the rank of archdiocese, and Hallinan was named its first archbishop, by Pope John XXIII on February 19, 1962. He also called the first Lay Congress in the archdiocese.

Illness and death Hallinan contracted hepatitis after returning from the second session of the Second Vatican Council in Rome in December 1963.

Viewpoints

Civil rights

Recognized by Time Magazine in 1968 as one of the "foremost advocates of social and religious liberalism" in the American South, Hallinan's first act as archbishop in Atlanta was to order the racial integration of all Catholic institutions under his jurisdiction. In one of his last talks, he said, "Through the Sacred Constitution on the Liturgy, we are now emerging from a period of fixity and rigidity which was unnatural in the Church's life." In July 1964, Hallinan published a pamphlet, How to Understand Changes in the Liturgy, that was distributed throughout the United States and abroad. Hallinan sat on the board of trustees of the Catholic University of America, and opposed their removal in 1967 of liberal theologian Charles Curran from the university.

Vietnam War Hallinan was a staunch opponent of American involvement in the Vietnam War. At a study conference of the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV), he declared, "Our conscience and our voice must be raised against the savagery and terror of war." In August 1967, he was one of four American Catholic bishops who endorsed the Negotiation Now! campaign to end the war.