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John Francis Whealon (January 15, 1921 – August 2, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut from 1968 to 1991.

Whealon previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland in Ohio from 1961 to 1966 and as bishop of the Diocese of Erie in Pennsylvania from 1966 to 1968.

Biography

Early life

John Whealon was born in Barberton, Ohio, to John Joseph and Mary Christina (née Zanders) Whealon. He received his early education at St. Augustine School in Barberton from 1927 to 1934, and attended St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland, from 1934 to 1940. Returning to Ohio, Whealon studied theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Cleveland from 1940 to 1945.

Priesthood

Whealon was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1945. He briefly served as a curate at St. Peter Parish in Akron, Ohio, then entered the University of Ottawa, where he earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree.

Upon his return to Ohio, Whealon served as a curate at St. Dominic Parish in Shaker Heights and professor of Sacred Scripture at St. Mary's Seminary from 1946 to 1948. He furthered his studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1948 to 1950. He returned to Ohio and was named a curate at St. Aloysius Parish in Cleveland in 1950.

Whealon resumed his post as professor at St. Mary's Seminary in 1952, and became rector of Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe the following year. He was named a papal chamberlain in 1955, and raised to the rank of domestic prelate in 1959. He contributed to Catholic Biblical Quarterly and was vice president of the Catholic Biblical Association (1959–60).

Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland

On June 5, 1961, Whealon was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland and Titular Bishop of Andrapa by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopal consecration on July 6, 1961, from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, with Bishops Paul John Hallinan and Floyd Lawrence Begin serving as co-consecrators. Between 1962 and 1965, Whealon attended all four sessions in Rome of the Second Vatican Council.

Bishop of Erie

Following the resignation of Archbishop John Mark Gannon, Whealon was named the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Erie by Pope Paul VI on December 9, 1966.

Archbishop of Hartford

On December 28, 1968, Whealon was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford by Paul VI following the resignation of Archbishop Henry O'Brien. During his 23-year-long administration, Whealon established a program to train married men to be ordained as deacons, advocated the promotion of women within the structure of the Church, and developed a team ministry in which clerical and lay people administer a parish together. In 1986, he appointed Sister Helen M. Feeney to be first woman chancellor of the archdiocese and only the fifth woman chancellor in the country. Whealon also founded the radio station WJMJ in Hartford. He was active on ecumenical issues, and was chair of the Committee on Ecumenism of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of ChrisConn, the Christian conference of Connecticut.

Death and legacy

John Whealon died unexpectedly during a surgical procedure at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford on August 2, 1991. The archdiocese's annual fundraising golf tournament is named in his honor. Additionally, a Waterbury, Connecticut, council of the Knights of Columbus bears his name - the Archbishop John F. Whealon Council 10865.

In 2012, a Connecticut man sued the archdiocese, claiming that he had been sexually abused when an altar boy in the 1970s by Ivan Ferguson, an archdiocesan priest. The plaintiff accused Whealon of covering up Ferguson's criminal acts and allowing his transfers to other assignments. In 2017 another man sued the archdiocese for negligence, claiming that Daniel McSheffery, an archdiocesan priest at St. George Parish in Guilford, Connecticut, sexually abused him over 250 times, starting at age nine. The plaintiff claimed that Whealon knew that McSheffery was a danger to children.

Viewpoints

Abortion

Whealon left the Democratic Party in 1988 because of his opposition to abortion rights for women, declaring in his column in the weekly Catholic Transcript that he was "unable in conscience to remain a registered Democrat" because of the party's support of legal and government-financed abortions. In 1974, he said that Catholic healthcare professionals who participated in abortions faced excommunication. Whealon resigned from a local television station's program advisory committee because the station refused to cancel an episode of the comedy series Maude that dealt with abortion.

Birth Control

Whealon described a State of Connecticut-sponsored advertising campaign that encouraged sexually active adults to use condoms to prevents HIV/AIDS as "a commendable effort but a serious mistake to present condoms as the answer to the threat."

War

Whealon supported the participation of the United States in Vietnam War and defended the maintenance of nuclear weapons.

References

1. ^ Curtis, Georgina Pell (1961). The American Catholic Who's Who. Vol. XIV. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.
2. ^ "Archbishop John Francis Whealon". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
3. ^ Fraser, C. Gerald (1991-08-03). "John Francis Whealon Dies at 70; Archbishop of Hartford 22 Years". The New York Times.
4. "Helen M. Feeney". CT Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
5. "Memos Show Catholic Archdiocese Kept Abusive Priests Pedophilia under Wraps, by Edmund H. Mahony, The Hartford Courant, January 31, 2012". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
6. "Former altar boy says priest abused him more than 250 times over 2 decades". WLWT. 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2022-11-25.

External links

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie

v t e Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford
Ordinaries	Bishops William Tyler Bernard O'Reilly Francis Patrick McFarland Thomas Galberry, O.S.A. Lawrence S. McMahon Michael Tierney John J. Nilan Maurice F. McAuliffe Archbishops Henry J. O'Brien John Francis Whealon Daniel Anthony Cronin Henry J. Mansell Leonard P. Blair Coadjutor archbishops Christopher J. Coyne
Auxiliary bishops	Joseph Francis Donnelly John Francis Hackett Paul Loverde Christie Macaluso John Gregory Murray Henry Joseph O'Brien Peter A. Rosazza Juan Miguel Betancourt
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford Basilica Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Waterbury Parishes St. Joseph Church, Ansonia St. Stanislaus Church, Bristol St. Michael the Archangel Church, Derby St. Adalbert Church, Enfield St. Augustine Church, Hartford Holy Trinity Church, Hartford SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Hartford St. Stanislaus Church, Meriden Holy Cross Church, New Britain Sacred Heart Church, New Britain St. Mary's Church, New Haven St. Joseph's Church, New Haven St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven St. Mary Church, Newington Church of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk Immaculate Conception Church, Southington St. Joseph Church, Suffield St. Casimir Church, Terryville St. Mary Church, Torrington St. Hedwig Church, Union City St. Patrick - St. Anthony Church, Hartford SS. Peter and Paul Church, Wallingford St. Anne Church, Waterbury Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Waterbury Former parishes St. Anne/Immaculate Conception Parish, Hartford St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Waterbury
Education	Seminaries St. Thomas Seminary, Bloomfield High schools Academy of Our Lady of Mercy, Lauralton Hall, Milford Canterbury School, New Milford East Catholic High School, Manchester Holy Cross High School, Waterbury Northwest Catholic High School, West Hartford Notre Dame High School, West Haven Sacred Heart Academy, Hamden Sacred Heart High School, Waterbury St. Paul Catholic High School, Bristol
Priests	Peter Leo Gerety Francis Patrick Keough
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie
Ordinaries	Bishops Michael O'Connor Joshua Maria Young Tobias Mullen John Edmund Fitzmaurice John Mark Gannon John Francis Whealon Alfred Michael Watson Michael Joseph Murphy Donald Walter Trautman Lawrence T. Persico Auxiliary bishops John Mark Gannon Edward Peter McManaman Alfred Michael Watson
Churches	Cathedral St. Peter Cathedral, Erie Parishes Decker's Chapel, St. Marys, Elk County St. Severin's Old Log Church, Cooper Settlement Sacred Heart Church, Sharon
Education	High schools Cathedral Preparatory School, Erie Central Catholic High School, DuBois Elk County Catholic High School, St. Marys Kennedy Catholic High School, Hermitage Mercyhurst Preparatory School, Erie Venango Catholic High School, Oil City Villa Maria Academy, Erie Diocesan seminary St. Mark Seminary
Priests	Lawrence Eugene Brandt
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
Bishops	Ordinaries Louis Amadeus Rappe Richard Gilmour Ignatius Frederick Horstmann John Patrick Farrelly Joseph Schrembs Edward Francis Hoban Clarence George Issenmann James Aloysius Hickey Anthony Michael Pilla Richard Gerard Lennon Nelson J. Pérez Edward Charles Malesic Auxiliaries Joseph Maria Koudelka James A. McFadden William Michael Cosgrove John Raphael Hagan Floyd Lawrence Begin John Krol Clarence Edward Elwell John Francis Whealon Gilbert Ignatius Sheldon Michael Joseph Murphy James Anthony Griffin James Patterson Lyke Anthony Edward Pevec Alexander James Quinn Martin John Amos Roger William Gries Michael G. Woost
Churches	List List of churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Cathedral Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Parishes Holy Rosary Church, Cleveland Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Cleveland St. Barbara Church, Cleveland St. Casimir Church, Cleveland St. Elizabeth's Magyar Church, Cleveland St. Michael the Archangel Church, Cleveland St. Paul's Church, Cleveland St. Peter Church, Cleveland Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus, Cleveland St. Stephen Church, Cleveland St. Vitus's Church, Cleveland St. Mary's Church, Elyria Immaculate Conception Church, Grafton St. Martin's Church, Valley City St. Patrick's Church, Wellington Former parishes Annunciation Church, Cleveland Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Cleveland St. Joseph's Church, Cleveland St. Mary's on the Flats, Cleveland Transfiguration Church, Cleveland St. Ladislaus Church, Lorain
Higher education	Colleges & universities John Carroll University Ursuline College Seminary Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology Former colleges Notre Dame College St. John's College, Cleveland
Priests	Timothy P. Broglio John Dearden Raymond Joseph Gallagher Louis de Goesbriand Paul John Hallinan Joseph Patrick Hurley Charles Hubert Le Blond Edward Aloysius Mooney Thomas Charles O'Reilly Michael Joseph Ready John Patrick Treacy
Miscellany	St. Joseph Convent and Academy Complex 7th National Eucharistic Congress (United States)
Catholicism portal

• Roman Catholic bishops of Hartford
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• Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
• Participants in the Second Vatican Council
• 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
• 1991 deaths
• 1921 births
• Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni
• People from Barberton, Ohio
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• American Roman Catholic archbishops