Michael Ryan Patrick Dempsey (September 10, 1918 – January 8, 1974) was an

American Catholic The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the pope, who as of 2025 is Chicago, Illinois-born Leo XIV. With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the cou ...

prelate who served as an

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the

Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. The Vatican erected it as a diocese in 1843 and elevated it to an ar ...

from 1968 to 1974.

Biography

Born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Michael Ryan Patrick Dempsey was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 1, 1943, by Archbishop Samuel Stritch. Before his appointment to the episcopacy, Father Dempsey was instrumental in creating the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. On June 13, 1968

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

appointed him as the

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 Truentum and Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago. He was consecrated by Cardinal John Cody on June 13, 1968. The principal co-consecrators were Bishops Ernest John Primeau of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and Cletus F. O'Donnell of Madison. He continued to serve as an auxiliary bishop until his death from a heart attack on January 8, 1974.

References

1918 births 1974 deaths Clergy from Chicago 20th-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops Catholics from Illinois {{US-RC-bishop-stub