Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan (1911-1968)

Today marks the death of Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan (1911-1968). Born in Ohio, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame before studying for the priesthood. In 1937 he was ordained a priest for the Cleveland diocese. During World War II he served as a U.S. Army Chaplain. After the war, he began working with the Newman Apostolate, a campus ministry program at non-Catholic colleges and universities. From 1947 to 1958 he worked at Case Western Reserve University, where he earned a doctorate in history. (He finished the dissertation while he was a bishop.) He was hoping to get a teaching opposition at his diocesan seminary when he was named Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. There he worked for the desegregation of Catholic schools and hospitals. In 1962 Bishop Hallinan became Archbishop of Atlanta. One of his first acts was to desegregate all Catholic schools. During Vatican II he served as the only American on the Liturgical Commission. A supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, he helped organize a dinner honoring Dr. Martin Luther King who had just won the Nobel Prize. It was the first biracial dinner in Atlanta’s history. In 1966, this former chaplain issued a pastoral letter calling for greater transparency by the government on Vietnam. Sadly, he died at age 57 in 1968 as he was attempting to implement the Vatican Council in his archdiocese.