James Aloysius Hickey (October 11, 1920 – October 24, 2004) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Washington from 1980 to 2000, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1988. Hickey previously served as Bishop of Cleveland from 1974 to 1980.
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.
James Hickey was born on October 11, 1920, in Midland, Michigan, to James and Agnes (née Ryan) Hickey; he had an older sister, Marie. James Hickey was a dentist who, during the Great Depression, treated patients who could not pay for their dental care. At age 13, James Hickey entered St. Joseph Minor Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated as valedictorian from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit in 1942. While in the seminary, Hickey helped provide pastoral care to migrant workers. He then attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Hickey was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Saginaw by Bishop William Murphy on June 15, 1946. He then served as an associate pastor at St. Joseph's Parish in Saginaw, Michigan until 1947. Hickey went to Rome in 1947 to further his studies. He earned a Doctor of Canon Law degree from the Pontifical Lateran University in 1950, and a Doctor of Theology degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in 1951.
After returning to Michigan, he served as secretary to Bishop Stephen Woznicki from 1951 to 1966. He was also the founding rector of St. Paul Seminary. From 1962 to 1965, Hickey attended the Second Vatican Council in Rome as a peritus for Bishop Woznicki. The Vatican raised Hickey to the rank of domestic prelate on October 31, 1963.
On February 18, 1967, Hickey was appointed as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw and titular bishop of Taraqua by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on April 14, 1967, from Archbishop John Dearden, with Bishops Woznicki and Stephen Leven serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. Mary. Hickey selected as his episcopal motto: Veritatem In Caritate, meaning, "Truth in Charity" (Ephesians 4:15).
Hickey served as chair of priestly formation within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 1968 to 1969. In March 1969, he became rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he would oversee the formation of American seminarians for the next five years.
Hickey was named the eighth bishop of Cleveland on May 31, 1974, by Paul VI. Replacing Bishop Clarence Issenmann, he was installed on July 16, 1974. During his tenure in Cleveland, Hickey was an advocate of racial unity and became active in justice issues involving El Salvador. In 1980, he traveled to El Salvador to attend the funeral of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who had been murdered by right-wing assassins. 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.
Pope John Paul II appointed Hickey as archbishop of Washington on June 17, 1980. 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.
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. Commenting on the visitation, Hickey said, "It wasn't easy, you know."
In August 1986, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in Rome, sent a letter to Reverend Charles Curran, a theologian at Catholic University. The letter revoked his authorization to teach theology at Catholic University or any other such institution. Curran had challenged Catholic policies on divorce, birth control, homosexual acts and abortion. As chancellor of Catholic University, Hickey supported Ratzinger's action.
He was Grand Prior of the Middle Atlantic USA Lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from 1993 to 2005.
John Paul II created Hickey as cardinal priest of the Church of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore a Tor Bella Monaca in Rome during 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.
In 1989, Hickey excommunicated the African-American priest George Stallings, a one-time protégé, after Stallings formed the unauthorized Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation in Washington.
Within the USCCB, Hickey served as chairman of the Committee on Doctrine (1979 to 1981), of the Committee on Human Values (1984 to 1987), and of the Committee on the Pontifical North American College (1989 to 1991 and 1994 to 1997).
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:
The Catholic Charities Health Care Network
The Archdiocesan Legal Network, which provides pro bono care for the region's low income residents