WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 25, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The late Cardinal James Hickey was remembered a passionate provider of services to the poor during his 20 years as head of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The 84-year-old retired archbishop died Sunday at a nursing home here after several years of declining health, the Washington Post reported.
Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, remembered the cardinal as «a man of extraordinary faith and ability whose enthusiasm in the service of God was an inspiration to all who had the privilege of knowing him.»
«His commitment to social justice and his compassion for the poor was unequivocal,» Anderson said in a statement.
«Under his leadership, the Archdiocese of Washington dramatically expanded its services to the homeless, the indigent, the elderly, to immigrant families and to those who suffered from AIDS. Cardinal Hickey was a member of the Knights of Columbus for nearly 50 years, and we often joined in supporting his pastoral work,» he said.
«Cardinal Hickey also had a significant and long-lasting impact on the renewal of Catholic education, both in his role as Chancellor of the Catholic University of America, and in his involvement in the founding of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family,» Anderson added.
The Michigan-born prelate was appointed in 1980 to lead the Washington Archdiocese. As archbishop, he established the metropolitan area’s most extensive nongovernmental network of social services.
«He always showed the face of the church to the poor,» Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, his successor as head of the archdiocese, said Sunday. «For me, that … really summarized the whole kind of man and whole kind of vision that Jim Hickey had.»
A funeral Mass is scheduled for this Saturday, the Post reported.
