Terence Cooke

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Terence Cooke : biography

March 1, 1921 – October 6, 1983

Terence James Cooke (March 1, 1921 – October 6, 1983) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969.

Auxiliary Bishop

On September 15, 1965, Cooke was appointed an auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and titular bishop of Summa by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following December 13 from Spellman, with Archbishops Joseph Thomas McGucken and John Joseph Maguire serving as co-consecrators, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He selected as his episcopal motto: Fiat Voluntas Tua, meaning, "Thy Will Be Done" ().

Cooke played a prominent role in arranging Pope Paul’s visit to New York in October, and became Vicar General of the Archdiocese two days after his consecration, on December 15, 1965. He was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia, a form of cancer, that year as well.

Ministry

Cooke was ordained a priest by Archbishop Francis Spellman on December 1, 1945. He then served as a chaplain for until 1947, when he moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue his graduate studies in social work at the The Catholic University of America, from which he obtained a Master of Social Work degree in 1949.

After he returned to New York, Cooke was then assigned to serve as a curate at St. Athanasius Parish in the Bronx, while also teaching at Fordham University’s School of Social Service, until 1954, when he was appointed Executive Director of the Youth Division of Catholic Charities and procurator of St. Joseph’s Seminary. In 1957 he was appointed by Cardinal Spellman to be his secretary, a position in which he remained until 1965. Cooke was named a Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on August 13, 1957, and Vice-Chancellor for the Archdiocese in 1958, rising to full Chancellor in 1961.

Illness and death

In late August 1983, Cooke revealed his illness to the public; he announced that he was expected to live for a few more months, but would not resign his post. He was on almost constant chemotherapy for the last five years of his life. In an open letter completed only days before his death, he wrote, "The gift of life, God’s special gift, is no less beautiful when it is accompanied by illness or weakness, hunger or poverty, mental or physical handicaps, loneliness or old age."

Cooke died from his battle with leukemia in his episcopal residence, at age 62. He is interred in the crypt under the altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Recognitions

  • On April 5, 1984, President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Cooke the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  • In 1988, he was posthumously awarded the F. Sadlier Dinger Award by William H. Sadlier, Inc. for his outstanding contributions to the ministry of religious education in America.

Cause for canonization

Cooke was widely regarded as a holy person by many New Yorkers during his episcopal ministry as Archbishop of New York and, soon after his death in 1983, a movement to canonize him as a saint began. In 1984, with the support of Cooke’s successor, Archbishop (and future cardinal) John Joseph O’Connor, the Cardinal Cooke Guild was established. In 1992, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints officially designated Cooke as a Servant of God, a first step in the canonization process that leads to beatification and then canonization as a saint.

The Reverend Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., was the postulator for the cause while it was in its initial stages in New York. Since the process was accepted by the Holy See, Andrea Ambrosi, J.D., serves in that position.

Archbishop of New York

Following the death of Cardinal Spellman in December 1967, Cooke was named the seventh Archbishop of New York on March 2, 1968.

Cooke’s appointment came as a surprise; likely contenders for the post included Fulton J. Sheen, a television personality and Bishop of Rochester; and Archbishop Maguire, who had been Spellman’s coadjutor but did not hold the right to succession. In addition to his duties in New York, he was named Vicar Apostolic for the U.S. Military on April 4, and was installed in both positions at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.