Robert Daniel Conlon (born December 4, 1948) is an American
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...
of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who served as
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
of the
Diocese of Joliet
The Diocese of Joliet in Illinois ( la, Diœcesis Joliettensis in Illinois) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the state of Illinois in the United States. The Diocese of Joliet in Illinois is a suff ...
in Illinois from 2011 to 2020. From 2002 to 2011 he served as bishop of the
Diocese of Steubenville
The Diocese of Steubenville ( la, Dioecesis Steubenvicensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church covering thirteen counties in southeastern Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the Un ...
in Ohio.
Early life and education
Robert Conlon was born on December 4, 1948, in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, the eldest of the six children of Robert and Carla (née Holzman) Conlon. As a child, he attended St. Mary Church in
Hyde Park, Ohio
Hyde Park is an affluent neighborhood on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio. The population was 14,193 at the 2020 census.
It is located on the eastern side of Cincinnati, approximately six miles away from Downtown Cincinnati. Much of the neighbo ...
. Conlon later attended
Purcell High School and St. Gregory Seminary High School in Cincinnati, graduating in 1966 from St. Gregory.
Conlon then entered the
Athanaeum of Ohio in Cincinnati, receiving his degree in 1975.
On March 9, 1974, Conlon was ordained a deacon at the
Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains is a Catholic Church, Catholic cathedral of the Latin Church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The basilica is a Greek revival structure located at 8th and Plum ...
in Cincinnati. After receiving his
diaconate
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
, Conlon served as a deacon at St. Agnes Parish in Cincinnati.
Ordination and ministry
On January 15, 1977, Conlon was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati by then Archbishop
Joseph Bernardin. After his ordination, Conlon was assigned as associate pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Cincinnati, serving there until July 1982. In 1981, Conlon also assumed the roles of
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
of the Office of Planning and Research and assistant
chancellor.
In 1983, Conlon entered
St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario. He was awarded a
Doctorate of Canon Law degree and a philosophy degree in January 1987. After returning to Cincinnati in 1987, Conlon was appointed chancellor and director of the Department of Executive Services for the archdiocese. He would hold these positions until 1996.
On August 6, 1996, Conlon became pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in
New Bremen, Ohio.
Bishop of Steubenville
On May 31, 2002,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
appointed Conlon as bishop of the Diocese of Steubenville. He was consecrated on August 6, 2002 by Archbishop
Daniel Pilarczyk with Bishops Gilbert Sheldon and
Sydney Charles serving as
co-consecrators. Conlon took as his episcopal
motto
A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...
: ''"Take Courage"'' (
Daniel 10:19,
John 16
John 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records Jesus' continued farewell discourse to his disciples, set on the last night before his crucifixion. Three key words in this chapter, á ...
:33).
In 2005, Conlon led a group of volunteers to New Orleans to assist the victims of
Hurricane Katrina, after hearing Archbishop
Alfred Hughes speak about the devastation that Katrina caused in his
Archdiocese of New Orleans
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans ( la, Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae, french: Archidiocèse de la Nouvelle-Orléans, es, Arquidiócesis de Nueva Orleans) is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church spanning Jefferso ...
.
Within the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...
, Conlon served as the chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People from 2011 to 2014.
Bishop of Joliet
On May 17, 2011,
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
named Conlon as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Joliet. On July 14, 2011, he was installed at the
Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet.
In September 2012, Conlon created a controversy by reinstating F. Lee Ryan, a diocese priest, to ministry for homebound parishioners. The diocese had suspended Ryan in 2010 from St. Edmund Parish in
Watseka, Illinois
Watseka is a city in and the county seat of Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately west of the Illinois-Indiana state line on U.S. Route 24.
The population of Watseka was 5,255 according to the 2010 census, which ...
, and St. Joseph Mission in
Crescent City, Illinois
Crescent City is a village in Iroquois and Crescent townships, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. The population was 615 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Crescent City is located in central Iroquois County at (40.770448, -87.857823). U.S. ...
, because it had determined a sexual abuse allegation against Ryan from the 1970s was credible. According to ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', Conlon ruled that since
child molestation was not a serious crime under
canon law
Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
in the 1970s, the diocese could only limit Ryan in ministry and not remove him completely. After dealing with large opposition within the diocese to this decision, Conlon reversed himself on September 18, 2012, and permanently removed Ryan from ministry.
Conlon wrote his first
pastoral letter
A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumst ...
to the Diocese of Joliet on June 13, 2019, entitled "Go, He Said." In this letter, he wrote of having witnessed "an enormous decline in people's participation in the life of the Church" but that
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
had inspired his attitude. He went on the write that Catholics must prepare to be
missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
disciples and there was a great need for the involvement of the lay faithful.
On October 31, 2019, Conlon and the Diocese of Joliet were named in a $100,000
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
lawsuit. The defendant was a
developmentally disabled
Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...
man who had been sexually assaulted in 2017 at the
Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee, Illinois. The assailant, Father Richard Jacklin, was arrested for the assault. The lawsuit charged the diocese and Conlon with improper vetting of Jacklin's background and negligent supervision of him.
On December 27, 2019, the Diocese of Joliet announced that Conlon was taking an immediate medical leave of absence. Bishop
Richard Pates
Richard Edmund Pates (born February 12, 1943) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Pates served as bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines in Iowa from 2008 to 2019 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and M ...
was appointed as
apostolic administrator
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...
of the diocese while Conlon was on medical leave. Conlon's medical condition was not disclosed.
Retirement
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
accepted Conlon's letter of resignation as bishop of Joliet on May 4, 2020.
In a statement, Conlon said he had found 2019 "challenging":
"I experienced a lot of stress and fatigue, which I did not always handle well, along with some serious medical issues, plus the death of my best friend.... I am no longer able to carry the burden of leadership of a large diocese."
References
External links
Roman Catholic Diocese of JolietDiocese of Steubenville
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conlon, Robert Daniel
1948 births
Living people
The Athenaeum of Ohio alumni
Religious leaders from Cincinnati
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Roman Catholic bishops of Joliet in Illinois
Roman Catholic bishops of Steubenville
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
Religious leaders from Ohio