Timothy Anthony McDonnell (born December 23, 1937) 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 '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 ...

. McDonnell 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 ca ...

of the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts from 2004 to 2014 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York from 2001 to 2004.

Biography

Early life and education

Timothy McDonnell was born on December 23, 1937, in New York City to John J. and Margaret (née Looney) McDonnell, both from

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The eldest of two children, he has a younger brother, John McDonnell, who is a member of the Marist Brothers and currently serves as vice-provincial of his order's United States Province. Their father was a dockworker for

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

in Brooklyn and later owned a gas station in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. Timothy McDonnell attended

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

s in the Bronx, and was inspired by his great-uncle to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. He then studied at Cathedral College in Queens, New York, and St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York, where he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1959.

Ordination and ministry

On June 1, 1963, McDonnell was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York by Cardinal

Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliary ...

at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. After his ordination, McDonnell served as an

associate pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ardsley, New York, and as a teacher at

Maria Regina High School Maria Regina High School, commonly referred to as Maria or MRHS, is an American Catholic, college-preparatory high school (grades 9–12) for girls founded by the Sisters of the Resurrection, located in Hartsdale, New York. History In 1957, M ...

in Hartsdale, New York until 1969. McDonnell earned a Master of Education in

pastoral counseling Pastoral counseling is a branch of counseling in which psychologically trained ministers, rabbis, priests, imams, and other persons provide therapy services. Pastoral counselors often integrate modern psychological thought and method with traditi ...

degree from

Iona College Iona University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic university with a main campus in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and occupies a campus of in New Rochell ...

in New Rochelle, New York, in 1970. From 1970 to 1977, McDonnell was assistant director of the archdiocesan Office for Christian and Family Development, while also serving as a chaplain at Cardinal McCloskey School and Home for Children in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

. He was then named director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1977, vice-

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

for the archdiocese in 1980, and monsignor by the Vatican in 1983. From 1984 to 1990, McDonnell served as

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of Holy Trinity Parish in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He briefly served as episcopal vicar of West Manhattan (1989–1990). In 1990, he became chief operating officer of the archdiocesan

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spir ...

and was also assigned to help run

Covenant House Covenant House is a large, Catholic, privately funded agency in the Americas, whose primary purpose is to promote Catholicism. It provides shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and other services to homeless and runaway young people. Covenant H ...

in Manhattan following the resignation of its president, Reverend

Bruce Ritter Bruce Ritter (February 25, 1927 – October 7, 1999) was a Catholic priest and one-time Franciscan friar who founded the charity Covenant House in 1972 for homeless teenagers. By the 1980s, it had grown to an $87 million agency, operating num ...

. In 1993, McDonnell became pastor of St. John and St. Mary Parish in

Chappaqua, New York Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro- ...

, serving there until 2002. While in Chappaqua, he oversaw a major renovation construction project at the church.

Auxiliary Bishop of New York

On October 30, 2001,

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 McDonnell as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York 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 Semina. He was consecrated on December 12, 2001, by Cardinal Edward Egan, with Bishops Henry J. Mansell and Robert Brucato serving as co-consecrators, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. McDonnell selected 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 ...

: ''"Love God and Love Neighbor."'' In addition to his duties as an auxiliary bishop, McDonnell served as

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 from 2002 to 2004. In May 2003, McDonnell reported to the archdiocesan priests council on the reorganization and possible consolidation of parishes within the archdiocese.

Bishop of Springfield

On March 9, 2004, John Paul II named McDonnell as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Springfield. He was installed on April 1, 2004, at St. Michael's Cathedral in Springfield. McDonnell has presided over a number of historic church closings and sales in the diocese. On May 13, 2004, McDonnell liquidated a fund designed to help priests accused of sexual misconduct. The fund had been set up by then Bishop

Thomas Dupré Thomas Dupré (born 9 June 1974) is a former French tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis ...

in late 2003. The existence of the fund had provoked conflict between McDonnell and one of his parish priests, James Scahill. Scahill had been withholding part of the parish collection to protest continued diocese support of Richard Lavigne, a priest convicted of child molestation in 1992. During a heated exchange at a council meeting, McDonnell accused Scahill of calling him a "Vatican lackey". When Scahill denied it, McDonnell said that he was worse than Lavigne and dismissed him from the meeting A few days after his installation, McDonnell had met with a

mediator Mediator may refer to: *A person who engages in mediation *Business mediator, a mediator in business * Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept * Mediator variable, in statistics Chemistry and biology *Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...

about settling several sexual abuse lawsuits against the diocese. On July 23, 2004, the diocese announced a $7 million settlement with 46 victims of child sexual abuse, many of whom had been molested by Levigne. By September, 2004, McDonnell and Scahill had reconciled their differences and performed mass together at Scahill's church. McDonnell apologized to Scahill during the service for his words at the meeting earlier that year. On October 31, 2006, McDonnell signed a letter with the other Catholic bishops of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

urging support for a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage.

Retirement

On June 19, 2014

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 McDonnell's letter of resignation as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonnell, Timothy A. 1937 births Living people Roman Catholic bishops of Springfield in Massachusetts People of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Saint Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie) alumni Iona University alumni 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States People from the Bronx People from Hartsdale, New York People from White Plains, New York People from Ardsley, New York Religious leaders from New York (state) Catholics from New York (state)