James Aloysius Hickey (October 11, 1920 – October 24, 2004) was a Cardinal for sixteen years and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC for twenty years.

Born in Midland, Michigan, Hickey became archbishop of Washington in 1980 after serving as Bishop of Cleveland . That same year, he attended the funeral of slain archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador. During the decade, he lobbied members of U.S. Congress to stop sending aid to the Contras in Nicaragua and pushed his fellow bishops to take strong stands against increased military spending and in favor of nuclear disarmament.

In 1988, Hickey was elevated to Cardinal. Hickey was, at that point, one of thirteen Americans in the College of Cardinals.

While known for his social activism outside the Catholic Church, Hickey was considered a conservative in issues affecting the Church — for example, he ordered New Ways Ministry , a ministry for gays and lesbians, to cease operations in his archdiocese in the early 1980s. Yet he and Rev. Michael Peterson , a gay psychiatrist on whom Hickey had relied for advice in treating pedophile priests, and who was dying from AIDS, wrote a joint letter in 1987 to all American Catholic 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."

Quotes

• "In the years remaining for me, I shall strive to be a caring pastor, a faithful teacher, a loving father and brother and a true servant of the people of God in the District of Columbia and the five counties of Maryland. I am truly honored, very humbled and deeply grateful that our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has chosen me to serve as a cardinal of the church." (Said upon his conferment as Cardinal in 1988.)

External links

• Hickey's obituary on the CBC's website
• Cardinal Hickey of Washington dies at 84 - Capital News 9 (Albany, N.Y.)
• Hickey's death at WTOPNews.com