Thomas Henry McLaughlin (July 25, 1881 – March 17, 1947) was 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 'pref ...

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 president of

Seton Hall College Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the ...

from 1922 to 1933 and as the first bishop of the new

Diocese of Paterson The Diocese of Paterson is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States that encompasses Passaic, Morris, and Sussex counties in northern New Jersey. Most of this territory lies to the west of t ...

in New Jersey from 1937 until his death in 1947. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of what was then the Diocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1935 to 1937

Biography

Early life

Thomas McLaughlin was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to John and Margaret (née Byrne) McLaughlin. His family later moved to Montclair,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, McLaughlin attended

St. Francis Xavier College A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country ...

in New York City, obtaining a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1901. He then went to the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

in Innsbruck, Austria, where he 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 va ...

to the priesthood for the Diocese of Newark by Bishop Balthasar Kaltner on July 26, 1904. McLaughlin earned a doctorate in sacred theology from Innsbruck in 1908. Returning to New Jersey, McLaughlin was appointed a professor at

South Orange South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...

in 1908. He served as dean from 1914 until 1922, when he was elected president of Seton Hall and rector of Immaculate Conception Seminary. He remained as president until 1933 and rector until 1938. He was named a

domestic prelate Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

in 1923, and

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the archdiocese in 1933.

Auxiliary Bishop of Newark

On May 18, 1935, McLaughlin was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Newark and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of ''Nisa in Lycia'' by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

."Most Rev. Thomas Henry McLaughlin, S.T.D.", Diocese of Paterson
/ref> He received his

episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on July 25, 1935, from Archbishop

Thomas J. Walsh Thomas James Walsh (June 12, 1859March 2, 1933) was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Helena, Montana who represented Montana in the US Senate from 1913 to 1933. He was initially elected by the state legislature, and from 1 ...

, with Bishops John A. Duffy and Joseph H. Schlarman serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

Bishop of Paterson

Pius XI named McLaughlin as the first

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 ca ...

of the newly erected Diocese of Paterson on December 16, 1937. He designated St. John the Baptist Church in Patterson as the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

. Thomas McLaughlin remained as Bishop of Paterson until his death on March 17, 1947. He is buried at St. John the Baptist Cathedral Churchyard, Paterson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Thomas H. 1881 births 1947 deaths Clergy from New York City Seton Hall University people University of Innsbruck alumni 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman Catholic bishops of Paterson