Brooklyn Daily Eagle-Home Talk, Feb. 22, 1935 -1,000 priests to witness consecration of Bishop Kearney at O.L.P.H. Monday

February 22, 2023 Editorial Staff

Clergymen walk to Our Lady of Perpetual Help for the consecration ceremony of Auxiliary Bishop Raymond A. Kearney (inset).

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By Claude A. Porter

What promises to be one of the most colorful and spectacular religious demonstrations held for many years in Brooklyn will be the formal consecration Monday of Auxiliary Bishop-elect Raymond A. Kearney, at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 5th Ave. and 58th St.

More than 1,000 priests, 100 monsignori and possibly 15 bishops from various parts of the United States will witness the ceremonies.

Because of the great number of clergymen attending and the lack of space, only those laymen possessing invitations will be admitted, this number of necessity being limited, it was announced yesterday at the chancery, 75 Greene Avenue.

Two hundred patrolmen have been detailed to the streets around the church.

The consecration ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. Immediately preceding this, however, there will be a procession of clergymen from the rectory to the church proper. The Auxiliary Bishop-elect and the other clergymen will be escorted by high officials of the Knights of Columbus in full dress and other Catholic orders.

Bishop Thomas E. Molloy of Brooklyn will be the consecrating prelate. Co-consecrators will include Bishop Moses Kiley, of Trenton, N.J., and Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Donohue of New York.

The sermon will be preached by Bishop James Ryan, rector of the Catholic University of America.

Cardinal Hayes will not be able to attend since he is out of town. Because of the throng anticipated, special amplifiers are being installed in the church edifice.

Bishop Kearney will celebrate his first pontifical high mass in the Church of the Nativity at 10:30 o’clock on Sunday, March 3.

Heretofore ceremonies of this character have been held in St. James Pro-Cathedral, and it was because of the size and accommodations offered by the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that the decision was made to have the consecration here.

Not since the consecration of Bishop Molloy has so much interest been taken in Catholic circles throughout the borough in a religious ceremony.

A dinner for the new Auxiliary Bishop will be given by the Long Island Council, Knights of Columbus, on Monday, March 4.

The Auxiliary-Bishop elect is 32 years of age and is said to be the youngest person elevated to this post in the United States and perhaps the world.

The new bishop is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kearney. As a boy he attended the Church of the Nativity. Following a complete classical course in Brooklyn Preparatory School and at Holy Cross College, he went to Rome where he studied theology for four years at the North American College.

He was ordained a priest in Rome and returned to Brooklyn in 1927, and shortly after was appointed to the parish of Queen of All Saints. Eight weeks later he received a call instructing him to proceed immediately to Washington and begin a course in Canon Law.

In 1929, at the age of 26, he published a canonical dissertation, “The Principles of Delegation,” considered one of the best works on the subject.

He served later at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Flatbush and the Church of St. Brigid in Ridgewood. He was made a monsignor four years ago.