Edward Aloysius Mooney

Styles of Edward Mooney
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Detroit

Edward Aloysius Mooney (May 9, 1882 – October 25, 1958) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan from 1937 until his death, and was made a cardinal in 1946. He previously served as an apostolic delegate to India and then Japan and as Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in New York.

Edward Mooney was born on May 9, 1882, in Mount Savage, Maryland, the seventh child of Thomas and Sarah (née Heneghan) Mooney. When he was five years old, the family moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where Thomas Mooney worked at a tube mill.^[1] Following his father's death in the 1890s, Sarah Mooney opened a small bakery to support the family, with Edward Mooney and his siblings delivering the baked goods to her customers.^[1]

Having decided to become a priest, Mooney first attended St. Charles College, a minor seminary in Ellicott City, Maryland. He then entered St. Mary's Seminary, the major seminary in Baltimore. Mooney was sent to Rome in 1905 to study, residing at the Pontifical North American College.^[2]

Mooney was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Cleveland by Cardinal Pietro Respighi in Rome on April 10, 1909.^[3]

After Mooney returned to the United States, the diocese assigned him to teach dogmatic theology at St. Mary's Seminary, the minor seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio. In 1916, he was named as the founding principal of the Cathedral Latin School in Cleveland. Mooney left Cathedral in 1922 to serve as pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Youngstown, Ohio.

Mooney returned to Rome in 1923 to serve as spiritual director of the North American College. Cardinal Albert Meyer, an alumnus of the College, once remarked, "[Mooney] was revered and greatly beloved ... he left an indelible mark on all the students, inspiring them with his great learning and his solid spiritual guidance."^[1] The Vatican raised Mooney to the rank of domestic prelate of his holiness in 1925.^[4]

On January 21, 1926, after having made a favorable impression on Cardinal Gasparri,^[5] Mooney was appointed apostolic delegate to the East Indies and titular archbishop of Irenopolis in Isauria by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration at the chapel of the North American College on January 31, 1926. Cardinal Willem van Rossum was the principal consecrator, with Archbishop Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani and Bishop Giulio Serafini serving as co-consecrators.^[3]

As apostolic delegate, Mooney was headquartered in Bangalore, then part of the princely state of Mysore. He founded 15 missions and three dioceses in British India and negotiated a reconciliation between the Vatican and the Syro-Malankara Church there.^[6]

Mooney was named apostolic delegate to Japan by Pius XI on March 30, 1931.^[3] During this period, the Japanese government forced all Japanese citizens to visit and pay homage at Shinto shrines. However, Catholics objected to being forced to participate in Shinto religious ceremonies. Mooney helped convince the government to declare that visits to the shrine were of a non-sectarian patriotic nature. He later presided over a plenary council of Korean bishops.^[1]

On August 28, 1933, Pius XI appointed Mooney as bishop of Rochester, with the personal title of "archbishop".^[3] During his tenure in Rochester, he promoted Catholic Action and the Knights of Peter Claver as a means of outreach to the African American community, and took deep interest in Catholic social teaching and labor relations.^[7]

Mooney was elected chair in 1935 of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, maintaining that post until 1945.

Mooney was named the first archbishop of Detroit on May 31, 1937. Arriving by train in Detroit on August 2nd, he was greeted by Michigan Governor Frank Murphy and a representative of Detroit Mayor Frank Couzens, along with a large crowd.^{[8] [9]}

Mooney soon became engaged in a contentious relationship with Reverend Charles Coughlin, a priest in the archdiocese. A popular radio broadcaster who reached millions of listeners across the country, Father Coughlin's antisemitic tirades and fierce attacks against US President Franklin Roosevelt angered many in the Catholic hierarchy and American public. In October 1937, Mooney publicly rebuked Coughlin for calling Roosevelt stupid over his nomination of Senator Hugo Black to the US Supreme Court. This reprimand from Mooney led Coughlin to cancel his contract for 26 radio broadcasts.^[10] In a January 1939 meeting of all the archdiocesan priests, Mooney proposed the establishment of labor schools in the parishes to help "Christian workers to train themselves in principle and technique to assume the leadership in the unions which their numbers justify".^[11]

An avid golf player, Mooney once remarked to his priests "If your score is over 100, you are neglecting your golf—if it falls below 90, you're neglecting your parish". Every year, he would take a group of altar boys to the opening game of the baseball season.^[5]

During World War II, Mooney staunchly opposed Nazi Germany and its fascist allies. In an August 1942 meeting in Washington D.C. of North and South American prelates, he warned, "A victory in this war for the forces of Nazi-inspired aggression would drive Christians underground for generations in the conquered countries."^[12]

In 1942, the US Department of Justice was planning to indict Coughlin on charges of . As part of a deal to avoid Coughlin's prosecution, Mooney ordered him to end his political activities and work solely as a parish priest. Commenting on his order, Mooney stated, "My understanding with him is sufficiently broad and firm to exclude effectively the recurrence of any such unpleasant situation."^[13]Pope Pius XII created Mooney as cardinal priest of the Church of Santa Susanna in Rome during the consistory of February 18, 1946.^[3]

As the northern suburbs of Detroit grew after World War II ended in 1945, Mooney added churches in the remote areas of Oakland County. In 1948, he appointed Reverend Frederick Delaney to begin opening additional parishes in the rural areas of the county.^[14]In 1957, Mooney delivered the benediction in Washington at the second term inauguration ceremony of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.^[15]

Mooney died in Rome on October 25, 1958, at age 76, after suffering from a heart attack and collapsing less than three hours before the beginning of the 1958 papal conclave. Cardinals Francis Spellman and James McIntyre rushed to his deathbed to grant him absolution.^[2]

Mooney was initially buried in the crypt of St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan, but his remains were transferred in 1988 to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan.^[16] Several schools have been named after Mooney:

• Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, founded in 1956^[17]
• Cardinal Mooney High School in Greece, New York, founded in 1962, closed in 1989^[18]
• Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 1959^[19]
• Cardinal Mooney High School in Marine City, Michigan, founded in 1977^[20]

• Edward Aloysius Mooney at Find a Grave
• ‘Heavy hitter’ Cardinal Mooney helped shape new archdiocese^[usurped]
• Letter to Ambassador Myron C. Taylor