Hickey presided over a significant expansion of social services for the poor and sick in the Washington region by the Archdiocese of Washington. He was also a strong critic of American foreign policy in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and an advocate for nuclear disarmament.
Hickey was named the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland on May 31, 1974 by Paul VI.[2] Replacing Bishop Clarence Issenmann, he was installed on July 16 1974.[4] During his tenure in Cleveland, Hickey was a advocate of racial unity and became active in justice issues involving El Salvador.[3] In 1980, he traveled to El Salvador to attend the funeral of Archbishop Óscar Romero.[3] Sister Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan, two women whom Hickey had commissioned to serve as missionaries in El Salvador, were later murdered there; he kept their photographs on the wall of his private chapel for the rest of his life.[3]
Archbishop of Washington
Pope John Paul II appointed Hickey as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington on June 17, 1980. During the 1980's, Hickey lobbied members of the United States Congress to stop sending aid to the Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. He also pushed his fellow American bishops to take strong stands against increased military spending and in favor of nuclear disarmament. Hickey was one of the first American bishops to address the issue of sexual abuse by clergy, which would become a nationwide scandal in 2002.[1]
During the Salvadoran Civil War, Hickey opposed the Reagan administration's support for the military government of El Salvador.[6] In 1981, Hickey told the US House Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs: "Our position is to oppose military aid and intervention from all outside powers."[6] He feared a Communist takeover in El Salvador but opposed sending military assistance, believing such weapons would strengthen repressive elements in security forces.[6] In 1983, Hickey was dispatched by John Paul II on an apostolic visitation to investigate liturgical abuses in the Archdiocese of Seattle, then led by Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen.[7] Commenting on the visitation, Hickey said, "It wasn't easy, you know."[7]
Cardinal
John Paul II created Hickey as cardinal priest of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore a Tor Bella Monaca in the consistory of June 28, 1988. At that point, Hickey was one of thirteen Americans in the College of Cardinals. That same year, Hickey was invited to lead a retreat for the pope and his household.[1] Within the USCCB, Hickey served as chairman of the Committee on Doctrine (1979–81), of the Committee on Human Values (1984–1987), and of the Committee on the Pontifical North American College (1989–1991; 1994–1997).[3]
Hickey's tenure in Washington D.C. oversaw a significant expansion of Catholic Charities, which became the region's largest private social service agency. He also established:
In conjunction with Mother Teresa, Hickey also founded a Washington convent of the Missionaries of Charity for the care of the homeless and terminally ill.[3] He once declared,
"We serve the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. If we don't care for the sick, educate the young, care for the homeless, then we cannot call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ."[1]
Hickey resigned as archbishop on November 21, 2000, after twenty years of service.[4]
Views
In addition to his social activism, Hickey was known for his orthodox views regarding Catholic doctrine.
LBGT ministries
Hickey ordered New Ways Ministry, an unauthorized ministry for LGBT Catholics, to stop any operations on archdiocese property in the early 1980's. He also forced Georgetown University to stop DignityUSA, a national LBGT ministry organization, from celebrating Mass on campus in 1987.[1]
Hickey and Rev. Michael Peterson, a gay psychiatrist dying from AIDS on whom Hickey had relied for advice in treating pedophile priests, wrote a joint letter in 1987 to the American bishops acknowledging Peterson's diagnosis; Hickey wrote,
"Father Peterson's illness reminds us in a personal way of the terrible human tragedy of AIDS in our midst. His suffering challenges us to reach out with renewed conviction and compassion to those with AIDS and their families and friends."
Capital punishment
In early 2000, following on the Pope's calls for Catholics to oppose capital punishment, Hickey appealed to Maryland Governor Parris Glendening to commute the death sentence of Eugene Colvin-El.[1]
Labor
While Archbishop of Washington, Hickey ordered all large scale building projects in the archdiocese to be union jobs. [11]
"First, I'd like them to say that he was always loyal to his Church. Second, that he was a friend to Catholic education. And third, if they don't want to say the first two, at least I hope they would chisel on the stone, 'He served the poor.'"[1]
According to a 2020 Vatican report, Hickey failed to act on credible accusations of sexual abuse against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and continued to offer his support and endorsement to McCarrick. While this assertion assumes the reader never read the 461-page document in which no such accusations were made, any reference to Hickey's supposed support was the following, "He (McCarrick) welcomed prominent prelates to the new Diocese, including Archbishop Laghi,124 Archbishop James A. Hickey,125 Sebastiano Cardinal Baggio,126 and Joseph Cardinal Bernardin ...While the Nunciature has been aware of these accusations, the Nuncio has affirmed that they have been investigated and not substantiated, and is basically convinced that they are not really credible. Nevertheless, this Dicastery would note that, in his letter of April 4, 1994, while Cardinal James Hickey mentions that [McCarrick] should be presumed innocent, he wrote: “All this does not completely eliminate the possibility of some wrongdoing; my counsel is to proceed very slowly and cautiously” [12]
