O'Connor, John Joseph, 1920–2000, American Roman Catholic cardinal, b. Philadelphia. He was ordained a priest in 1945 and served as a military chaplain for 27 years, achieving the rank of rear admiral. Ordained a bishop in 1979, he was appointed bishop of Scranton, Penn. in 1983. In 1984 he was appointed archbishop of the archdiocese of New York and was elevated to cardinal by Pope John Paul II the following year. He was an outspoken conservative with regard to church policy but was also noted for his opposition to capital punishment and his advocacy of the rights of labor and the poor.
See biography by N. Hentoff (1988).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches: General Biographies
