Richard Cushing

Richard James Cushing (August 24, 1895 – November 2, 1970) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder of new churches, schools, and institutions. Unlike his predecessor, he was on good terms with practically the entire Boston elite, as he softened the traditional confrontation between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant upper-class. He built useful relationships with Jews, Protestants, and institutions outside the usual Catholic community. He helped presidential candidate John F. Kennedy deflect fears of papal interference in American government if a Catholic became president.
Cushing's high energy level allowed him to meet with many people all day, often giving lengthy speeches at night. He was not efficient at business affairs, and when expenses built up he counted on his fundraising skills instead of cost-cutting. Cushing, says Nasaw, was "fun-loving, informal, and outgoing. He looked rather like a tough, handsome, Irish cop and behaved more like a ward politician than a high church cleric." His major weakness in retrospect was overexpansion, adding new institutions that could not be sustained in the long run and had to be cut back by his successors.
Early life and education.
Cushing was born in City Point, South Boston on August 24, 1895. The third of five children, he was the son of Patrick and Mary (née Dahill) Cushing. His parents were both Irish immigrants; his father was originally from Glanworth, County Cork, and his mother from Touraneena, County Waterford. His father, who came to the United States in 1880, worked as a blacksmith and earned $18 per week in the trolley repair pits of the Boston Elevated Railway.
Cushing received his early education at Perry Public Grammar School in South Boston, since there was then no parochial school for boys in Gate of Heaven Parish. Cushing dropped out of high school in his freshman year because of his compulsive truancy. He subsequently entered Boston College High School, a Jesuit college preparatory school. His tuition there was paid by his cousin, who was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York. He graduated from high school in 1913, receiving honors for Latin and Greek. Cushing was torn for a time between religion and politics. He originally wanted to be a politician, even earning money by speaking for politicians from the back of wagons. He twice considered joining the Jesuits, but came to the conclusion he "was cut out more for the active life and not the teaching apostolate."
He entered Boston College in 1913, becoming a member of the first freshman class following the college's move to Chestnut Hill. At Boston College, he was active in the Marquette Debating Society and elected vice-president of his sophomore class. Following the sinking of the RMS "Lusitania" in 1915, Cushing enlisted in the United States Army but was medically discharged for his asthma after a few weeks. After attending Boston College for two years, he began his studies for the priesthood at St. John's Seminary in Brighton in September 1915. He was assigned to continue his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, but the escalation of U-boat activity prevented him from sailing across the Atlantic.
Priesthood.
On May 26, 1921, Cushing was ordained a priest by Cardinal William Henry O'Connell at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. His first assignment was as a curate at St. Patrick's Church in Roxbury, where he remained for two months. He was afterwards transferred to St. Benedict's Church in Somerville. In 1922, he appeared unannounced at the residence of Cardinal O'Connell to request an assignment as a missionary. The young priest declared he wanted to "take heaven by storm." O'Connell denied his request, and instead appointed him assistant director of the Boston office of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, an organization dedicated to raising funds for missions. He later served as director of the Society from 1929 to 1944. He was raised to the rank of Monsignor on May 14, 1939.
Episcopal career.
On June 10, 1939, after Bishop Francis Spellman was named Archbishop of New York, Cushing was appointed, at the request of Cardinal O'Connell, as Auxiliary Bishop of Boston and titular bishop of "Mela" by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Cardinal O'Connell, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, with bishops John Bertram Peterson and Thomas Addis Emmet, SJ, serving as co-consecrators. Cushing took as his episcopal motto: "Ut Cognoscant Te" (Latin: "That they may know thee").
As an auxiliary bishop, Cushing continued to serve as director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and was also named pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Newton Centre. Following the death of Cardinal O'Connell in April 1944, he served as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese.
Archbishop of Boston.
Cushing was named the third Archbishop of Boston on September 25, 1944, following the death of Cardinal O'Connell and honoring his earlier request that Cushing succeed him. During Cushing's tenure, Boston would see the excommunication of Fr. Leonard Feeney for repeated refusals to be summoned to Rome. Feeney refused to back down from his position, although it has been reported that he was ultimately reconciled with the Church before his death.
After the death of Pius XII, Cushing published a moving tribute to him. In 1959, Cushing published a biography of the late Pope Pius XII (1939–1958), depicting the late pope as "Pope of Peace". His work contributed to making the Roman Catholic Church acceptable to the general population at the time of then-Senator John F. Kennedy's run for the White House. Part of this work included reaching out to the non-Catholics of Boston after "the muscular style of involved Catholicism that Cardinal O'Connell brought to bear on issues of his day - religious, social, and political - in Boston and Massachusetts". Cushing was honored by B’nai B’rith as "Man of the Year" in 1956 for ""a lifetime of distinguished service to the cause of human brotherhood under God and in further recognition of great leadership in the fields of education and community relations"." He was a close correspondent with Robert E. Segal, longtime executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Boston, who played a key role in Jewish-Catholic relations in Boston. As well as this, Cushing maintained close contacts with Abram L. Sachar of Brandeis University. From the very start of Cushing's tenure as Archbishop of Boston, there was a major change in the relationship between official Bostonian Catholicism and Judaism, where there had previously been much mutual suspicion, Cushing sought closer relations. The author James Carroll has attributed Cushing's outlook to the (non-Catholic) marriage between his sister Dolly Cushing and a local Jewish haberdasherer, Dick Pearlstein. At the time this was very uncommon.Cushing was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Susanna by the decision of Pope John XXIII in the consistory of December 15, 1958. He was one of the cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave, which elected Pope Paul VI. A close friend of the Kennedy family, he officiated at the marriage of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in 1953, at which he also read a special prayer from Pope Pius XII, and baptized many of the Kennedy children. Cushing gave the prayer invocation at Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. The Cardinal also celebrated President Kennedy's funeral Mass in 1963 at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington, D.C., following Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas. The day before the funeral, he gave a televised eulogy for the President. Cushing later defended Jacqueline Kennedy after her marriage to Aristotle Onassis in 1968. He received a large amount of hate mail and was contradicted by the Vatican.
The Boston Globe reported on June 5, 2002 that Church documents released the prior day show the Boston Archdiocese had knowledge of sexual misconduct by several priests who were allowed to remain in active ministry despite complaints. The documents show Cardinal Richard Cushing, who led the Boston archdiocese for 25 years until 1971, approved the moving of at least two priests into new parishes during the 1960s despite allegations of sexual misconduct.
Biography of Pope Pius XII.
In 1959, Cushing published his only book, a biography of the late Pope Pius XII (1939–58). It is an almost hagiographic biography, written shortly after the death of the Pontiff. Cushing depicted him as the "Pope of Peace" who, armed only with the spiritual weapons of his office, triumphed over insidious attacks that seemed about to destroy the center of Christendom.
Second Vatican Council.
At the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), Cushing played a vital role in drafting "Nostra aetate", the document that officially absolved the Jews of deicide charge. His emotional comments during debates over the drafts were echoed in the final version:
He was deeply committed to implementing the Council's reforms and promoting renewal in the Church. In an unprecedented gesture of ecumenism, he encouraged Catholics to attend Billy Graham's crusades. Cushing strongly condemned Communism, particularly the regime of Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia.
Due to advanced illnesses Cushing's resignation as Boston's archbishop was accepted on September 8, 1970. Upon his resignation, Senator Ted Kennedy stated: "For three-quarters of a century [Cushing's] life has been a light in a world that cries out for illumination. He will never have to account for his stewardship, for if his goodness is not known to God, no one's ever will be."
Death.
Less than two months after his resignation, on November 2, 1970 (the feast of All Souls Day), Cushing died peacefully in his sleep of cancer at the Cardinal's Residence in Brighton, Massachusetts, aged 75. He was surrounded by his brother and sisters and his successor, Archbishop Humberto Medeiros. Cushing was buried in Hanover, Massachusetts at the Portiuncula Chapel on the grounds of the Cardinal Cushing Centers.
Works.
This is an incomplete list of the various writings of Richard Cardinal Cushing:
Articles
Works on Richard Cardinal Cushing