John Dearden

American prelate
the cricketer

John Francis Dearden (October 15, 1907 – August 1, 1988) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Detroit from 1958 to 1980, and was created a cardinal in 1969. He previously served as Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1950 to 1958. During his tenure in Pittsburgh, Dearden earned the nickname "Iron John" for his stern manner of administration. In Detroit, Dearden was active in community causes, supporting equal employment opportunities and better racial relations in the city. He played an influential role at the Second Vatican Council. Dearden also served as the first president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

John Dearden was born in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, the eldest of five children of John Sidney and Agnes (née Gregory) Dearden. He received his early education at the parochial school of Holy Trinity Church in Central Falls. At age 11, Dearden and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He continued his education at St. Philomena School in East Cleveland, and then attended Cathedral Latin High School from 1921 to 1925. He earned a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian in 1934. In 1952, he issued new regulations for interfaith marriages, allowing marriages between Catholics and non Catholics to take place in a church, but insisted his actions "must not be understood as mitigating in any degree the general rule of the church that is opposed in principle to such unions." He was named an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne in 1957.

Dearden attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965. During the Council, he became more progressive in his views, becoming known as a "favorite of the liberals in the church." When Pope Paul VI agreed with the idea raised by participants in Vatican II and restored the permanent diaconate in 1967, Dearden was the first in America to utilize the pronouncement and augmented the declining numbers of regular clergy in his diocese by ordaining thirteen married laymen as deacons in 1971. The New York Times speculated that in 1979 when Pope John Paul II came to America, answering an invitation to speak at the United Nations, he "snubbed" Dearden by not scheduling a visit to Detroit "in favor of John Cardinal Cody of Chicago, whose conservatism the Pope found more to his liking." As a member of the National Catholic Welfare Council, he served as its treasurer, a member of its administrative board, and chairman of its Committee on the Liturgical Apostolate.

When Michigan voters amended the state constitution to bar all taxpayer aid to private schools in 1970, Dearden ordered all parishes in his diocese to examine their finances and determine if their schools were a financial drain due to declining enrollment. Examining this data, he ordered the closing of 56 of the 269 schools in 1971. This raised an outcry from affected parishioners who were especially vexed as he was head of the bishops' conference at the time. Dearden was instrumental in forming the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and its public policy arm, the United States Catholic Conference (USCC). Dearden worked with a group that had come to fame by redesigning the management of the auto industry – the Booz Allen Hamilton management consultant firm. Together they worked to design NCCB's structures and procedures. The ethos that resulted gave the "bureaucracy significant power and influence in U. S. Catholic affairs. As the conference’s voice increased, that of individual bishops tended to decrease." As the head of the NCCB Dearden was known as "the unobtrusive liberal" for his emphasis on governing through consensus. In 1971, Dearden was succeeded as president of the NCCB/USCC by John Krol of Philadelphia, who was seen as a leading conservative.

After Vatican II, Dearden had been working for a National Pastoral Council to bring bishops, priests, religious, and lay people together to examine their "shared responsibility" on civic issues in the life of the Church. With the ban in place, a similar smaller event began to be planned which is referred to as the Call to Action conference. Just a few years before the anniversary of American independence, Dearden had been made the head of a committee for the NCCB to prepare a Catholic response to the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States. The centerpiece of the response was the Liberty and Justice for All project to discuss peace and social justice issues. Following the outbreak of the Watergate scandal in 1973, Dearden issued a pastoral letter in which he remarked, "These are difficult days for the country we love," and asked Catholics to observe the first three Fridays in November as days of prayer, penance and fasting in light of the nation's political turmoil. He suffered a serious heart attack in April 1977. He was also one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II, respectively.

Three years after suffering a heart attack, he resigned as Detroit's archbishop on July 15, 1980, after twenty one years of service. On August 1, 1988, Dearden died from pancreatic cancer in Southfield, Michigan, at age 80. He was still a member of the Roman Curia's Congregation for the Sacraments at the time. He is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.