Bishop Maloney, requiescat in pace

From The Record, emphasis mine:

(Louisville, KY) Bishop Charles G. Maloney, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville since 1955 and priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville since 1937, died this morning at Saints Mary and Elizabeth Hospital. He was 93 years old.

Archbishop Kelly praised his brother bishop for his love and service to the Archdiocese of Louisville: “We have lost a great and gentle servant of the Catholic Church and this community. Bishop Maloney will be greatly missed by all of us.”

The funeral liturgy for Bishop Maloney will be held on Thursday, May 4, 11:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Assumption, 433 South Fifth Street. Visitation will be at Highland Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road, on Tuesday, May 2, from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Bishop Maloney’s body will be received at the Cathedral of the Assumption on Wednesday, May 3, at 3:00 p.m. Visiting hours will follow at the Cathedral until 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and beginning at 9:00 a.m. until the funeral on Thursday. Burial is at Calvary Cemetery.

The Most Reverend Charles Garrett Maloney, D.D., has served the Archdiocese of Louisville for nearly 70 years. Born on September 9, 1912, Bishop Maloney served as auxiliary bishop to three archbishops: John A. Floersh, 1955-1967; Thomas J. McDonough, 1967-1981; and Thomas C. Kelly since 1982. His appointment as auxiliary bishop was a first in the history of the Archdiocese of Louisville. In 1995, he was named the first titular bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky. Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, O.P., announced this appointment, made by Pope John Paul II, on the occasion of Bishop Maloney’s 40th anniversary as a bishop.

Bishop Maloney retired as auxiliary bishop in 1988. After retirement he remained active in ministry. He was a member of the archdiocesan Priests’ Council and the College of Consultors, major advisory bodies to the Archbishop. Maloney also shared parish confirmation duties with Archbishop Kelly until the last couple of years. As a priest and bishop, Maloney has confirmed more than 80,000 Catholics.

A native of Louisville, Bishop Maloney attended St. James Elementary and is a summa cum laude high school and junior college graduate of St. Joseph College, Renssaelaer, Indiana. He completed pre-ecclesiastical studies at the North American College, Rome, and was ordained a priest in the College Chapel on December 8, 1937. Bishop Maloney studied canon law and received his licentiate degree in 1942. Bishop Maloney studied canon law at the Catholic University of America from 1940 to 1942.

Prior to being named auxiliary bishop, Maloney served in a variety of positions within the Archdiocese. He was chaplain at St. Thomas Orphanage from 1938 to 1939, associate pastor of St. Frances of Rome Parish from 1939 to 1940 and chaplain at St. Joseph Infirmary from 1942 to 1946. He became secretary to Archbishop Floersh in 1946 and assistant chancellor of the Archdiocese in 1951. In 1952 he was named chancellor and in 1954 vicar general. Bishop Maloney was appointed auxiliary bishop by Pope Pius XII in December 1954 and consecrated a bishop on February 2, 1955. In September of 1955 he was named titular bishop of Capsa, Africa, a title he held until his most recent appointment as titular bishop of Bardstown.

In the 1960s, Bishop Maloney attended sessions of the Second Vatican Council. At a session in 1965, he gave a talk on religious liberty, defending the right of people to free expression of religion without coercion or pressure from the government. In 1974, Bishop Maloney was among 69 United States bishops who attended a month-long U.S. Bishops’ Theological Consultation in Rome.

One of the Bishop’s most enduring contributions to the Archdiocese has been his financial and administrative skill. According to Archbishop Kelly, Maloney is a “genius at financial administration … But of all the things that I treasure about him, it is his wisdom, which is a combination of charity and experience. He is a man of profound faith. That gives him a vision of Church that very few people have.”

Bishop Maloney has received many honors during his years of service, including the St. George Emblem from the Boy Scouts of America, a Doctor of Humane Letters from Bellarmine University and the 1999 Salute to Catholic School Alumni Award.

The son of David and Imelda Shea Maloney, Bishop Maloney is the second-oldest of 12 children, three of whom became priests and one a sister. According to the Official Catholic Directory, Bishop Maloney had been ordained a bishop longer than any other living bishop in the United States.

The oldest Roman Catholic archdiocese west of the Appalachians, the Archdiocese of Louisville was founded as the Diocese of Bardstown in 1808, transferred to Louisville in 1841 and elevated to an Archdiocese in 1937. The Archdiocese covers 24 counties in Central Kentucky and hosts a Catholic population of 200,000.

Also of Note, an excerpt from an earlier article, emphasis mine:

Bishop Maloney — then auxiliary bishop of Louisville and now auxiliary bishop emeritus — is one of only eight U.S. bishops still living who took part and voted at the council. He attended all four sessions of the council from its opening on Oct. 11, 1962, until its closing on Dec. 8, 1965.

He also played an active role in council deliberations, giving oral presentations — called interventions — on two key subjects: religious liberty and Scripture. One historian, Father Gerald Fogarty, called Bishop Maloney one of the major American voices at the council in supporting religious liberty.

The Declaration on Religious Freedom was one of 16 documents approved by Vatican II. And Bishop Maloney, in a 1987 interview with The Record, recalled the debate on religious liberty and his talk on it.

He said it had become clear that, due to opposition, the religious freedom document would have failed unless it was pushed by the U.S. bishops at the council.

Bishop Maloney said he had suggested that one American bishop make a presentation on the issue. This bishop replied to him, "Well, you know Latin; you do it."

And so he did at a session in the autumn of 1965.

Those opposed to the religious liberty document contented that "error has no rights," Bishop Maloney recalled in the 1987 interview. "As I sat in the (council) hall, waiting to be called (to speak), the thought came to me that if this (objection) is valid, then some of the bishops here didn’t have any right to speak because they have contradicted each other. ... If error has no rights, how could they speak?"

The central question, as Bishop Maloney said he viewed it, was that "people have rights." This is what he emphasized in his talk, and this is what he considered the essence of the document.

The English translation of Bishop Maloney’s talk said in part:

"A person who expounds religious error does not derive his right from those errors. Rather by reason of his dignity as a human person endowed with free will he has the facility of speaking and acting.

"These two ideas are poles apart: The right to act (or decline action) on the one hand, and on the other the right to be free from coercion in acting or attempting to act. It is the latter right which we desire to affirm in religious matters."

The religious liberty declaration, which the council approved in 1965, says that religious freedom is a right found in the dignity of each person and that no one should be forced to act in a way contrary to his or her beliefs. The document does not say "error has rights," Bishop Maloney noted.

The document was "carefully worded" to allow everyone at the council to agree with it, Bishop Maloney recalled. "That was the genius of the council," which enabled it to get a large consensus on decrees.

On the other question he addressed — Scripture — Bishop Maloney was among council members favoring the use of modern research in interpreting the Scriptures.

"The church now can make use of new discoveries to corroborate the things it has been teaching and to obtain more explicit knowledge of other elements," he said at the council. "The historical method can make genuine contribution to the right knowledge of Scripture if this method is correctly understood and applied."

Bishop Maloney, in another interview with The Record, explained what Vatican II did and what it did not do regarding church renewal.

"It’s really important to repeat that the council did not change the doctrines of the church," he said. "The role of the council was to find new insights which would give modern man a better understanding of the church and provide greater attraction for it."

Bishop Maloney, 93, celebrated his 50th anniversary as a bishop earlier this year. He lives at the Little Sisters of the Poor St. Joseph Home for the Aged in Louisville.

The other still-living U.S. bishops who attended Vatican II are: retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans; retired Bishop Marion F. Forst of Dodge City, Kan,; retired Bishop Charles A. Buswell of Pueblo, Colo.; retired Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle; retired Auxiliary Bishop John J. Ward of Los Angeles; retired Bishop Loras J. Watters of Winona, Minn.; and retired Maronite Archbishop Francis M. Zayek of St. Maron of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Another article from the Louisville Courier-Journal

I was talking about our beloved Bishop Maloney at lunch today with Fr. Stevens, our Vice-Rector and a Sulpician Father from the Archdiocese of Louisville. He recalled one funny moment when someone asked him, "Bishop, who ordained you?" To which he quickly replied, "The Holy Spirit!" hehe :)

Bishop Maloney was a mentor and friend to many priests of the Archdiocese, including my old spiritual director, Fr. Paul Beach.

My prayer:
O Blessed Mother, Mary, if it pleases your Immaculate Heart, and the will of your Son, usher our beloved Bishop Maloney to God, where he may enjoy eternal happiness and through his intercession we may continue to increase in holiness through his loving care.