Archbishop Paul S. Coakley was born to John and Mary Coakley in Norfolk, VA in 1955 and lived there with his father, mother and older brother, John, until he was two years old. The family relocated to Metairie, LA where his sister, Mary Christina was born. After beginning his elementary education at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic School the family moved in 1965 to Overland Park, KS. Archbishop Coakley’s secondary education was completed in public schools in Overland Park.
After graduation from high school he attended the University of Kansas where he completed his undergraduate studies in English and Classical Antiquities in 1977. During this period he was a student in KU’s Integrated Humanities Program, where he studied under John Senior, Dennis Quinn and Frank Nelick.
Upon completing university studies Archbishop Coakley traveled in Europe and briefly considered a monastic vocation at the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault in France, before he returned to begin seminary studies for Diocese of Wichita in 1978.
After completing studies at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, he was ordained a priest on May 21, 1983. After serving as a priest of the Diocese of Wichita for twenty-one years, he was appointed Bishop of Salina on October 21, 2004. Bishop Coakley was ordained and installed as Bishop of Salina on December 28, 2004.
On December 16, 2010, Bishop Coakley was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the fourth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. He was installed as Metropolitan Archbishop on February 11, 2011.
Archbishop Coakley has selected "Duc in Altum" as his episcopal motto (Put out into the Deep). It is found in St. Luke’s gospel when Jesus, after teaching the crowds from Simon’s boat, invites the apostles to “put out into the deep” and lower their nets for a catch (Lk.5:4). Obedient to Jesus’ command, Simon Peter and his companions cast their nets as directed, and “caught such a great number of fish that their nets were at the breaking point” (Lk. 5:4). Jesus calls the Church today, as always, to put out into the deep, as a witness to hope, to hear, and to respond joyfully to his word with faith and confidence. It is a call to embrace the challenges and opportunities of the New Evangelization.
The fifth of nine children, Eusebius Joseph Beltran was born in Ashley, Penn., on Aug. 31, 1934. He was given the name of his Spanish grandfather, Eusebius, a common name in Spain.
Several saints, one of them a pope, and the important historian of the early Church, Eusebius, Bishop of Caesaria, also bear the name.
Archbishop Beltran’s father, Joseph Beltran, was born in Spain and came to New York in his late teens; he traveled to Pennsylvania to get a job in the coal mines. Helen Rita Kozlowski, the archbishop’s mother was born in the United States, though her parents were natives of Poland.
In the early 1950s, Joseph became ill with black lung disease. The doctors encouraged the family to move to the southeast or the southwest, so, in 1954, the family relocated to Gainesville, Ga. It was a devout Catholic family. Two sons became priests, Joseph in 1955 and Eusebius in 1960, both for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. A daughter Sponsa joined a Franciscan community, serving children at her mission in Liberia, Africa.
After studies at Saint Charles Seminary in Overbrook, Penn., Father Eusebius Beltran was ordained a priest on May 14, 1960. Following his ordination, he was immediately chosen to work part-time in the chancery, and in 1963 he was named vice-chancellor and the officialis, presiding judge, of the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
He accompanied Archbishop Paul Hallinan to the sessions of Vatican II as a peritus, or adviser. From 1971 to 1978, he was the vicar general for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. In addition to his duties as vicar general, he served as a pastor. His first assignments as pastor were a parish in Rome, Ga., and then a parish in the Atlanta suburbs; however, he gave up this assignment to take responsibility for an inner-city black parish.
His appointment as the second Bishop of Tulsa was announced on Feb. 28, 1978. He was ordained at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa on April 20. During his 15 years in Tulsa, he became known for his concern for Catholic Charities, for Catholic schools and for vocations to the priesthood. In each of these areas he developed innovative programs and extended the Church’s reach throughout eastern Oklahoma.
On Nov. 24, 1992, it was announced that he had been appointed to succeed Archbishop Salatka as Oklahoma City’s third archbishop. His installation took place on Jan. 22, 1993; the ceremony was held in Oklahoma City’s Civic Center Music Hall because The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help could not hold all those expected to attend.
Later the same year, he was summoned to Rome to receive the pallium, the sign of an archbishop’s office. He received the pallium from Saint John Paul II on June 29, 1993 (the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul), in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Archbishop Beltran is a long-time member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Southwestern Lieutenancy and the Knights of Columbus. He served as a member of the board of directors of Saint Gregory’s University; the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committee on the liturgy; the USCCB committee for the American College, Louvain; the USCCB committee for the American College, Rome; the USCCB Latin America committee; the board of regents for Conception Seminary as well as the National Conference of Christians and Jews and various local boards, organizations and committees.
He was instrumental in the creation of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Youth Camp northeast of Oklahoma City.
In 2007, Archbishop Beltran was granted permission to begin the Cause for the Canonization of Father Stanley Francis Rother in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Due to funding and personnel issues, the Diocese of Sololá where Father Rother served in the Oklahoma mission was unable to open a cause. It was Archbishop Beltran’s steadfastness and sheer determination that brought about forming the tribunal to prepare the cause.
After three years of research and interviews, the archdiocese sent more than 7,000 documents to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
Ten years later, Archbishop Beltran’s vision came to fruition as Father Stanley Rother was declared the first U.S. martyr by Pope Francis, which led to his beatification in Oklahoma City on Sept. 23, 2017, which Archbishop Beltran concelebrated. Blessed Stanley Rother was the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified.
On his 75th birthday in 2010, Archbishop Beltran submitted his resignation. He was succeeded by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley in February 2011.
Archbishop Beltran will be remembered for his tireless dedication to the Church he loved, his kindness and compassion, his sense of humor, and his devotion to the youth of the archdiocese. He spent his retirement serving in whatever capacity was needed, including assisting with confirmations, celebrating Mass and visiting the aging and ill.
Charles A. Salatka came to Oklahoma after serving as auxiliary bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan (1961-1968) and later as Bishop of Marquette, Michigan (1968-1977). Installed as the second Archbishop of Oklahoma City on December 15, 1977, as the successor to John R. Quinn, he brought a different style. Trained in Europe, he held a number of assignments and degrees (including a JCL in Canon Law) after his ordination to the priesthood in February, 1945.
Coming from the poorest diocese in America he was particularly cognizant of his fiscal responsibilities. He put the Archdiocese on a firm financial footing by astute land sales and consolidated the Archdiocesan offices in the former St. Francis de Sales Seminary. Under his guidance, thirteen new churches were built and many others completed building projects as well.
Archbishop Salatka instituted a planning process that assessed the needs of the Archdiocese arriving at three priorities: family life, youth ministry, and outreach to the growing Hispanic community. His attention to the Hispanics came in the form of the first archdiocesan office dedicated to serving them. He even learned to speak Spanish at the age of sixty. Seeking a deeper spiritual life for his flock, he instituted the Renew program which encouraged shared prayer and small faith communities. It was wildly successful. Adult education was enhanced by his support of the Pastoral Ministry Program that gave the opportunity for the laity to receive college credit and training for ministry.
Improving the lives of his priests and hence their service, especially in the area of health, was paramount in his vision of an improved church. A new St. Ann’s Nursing Home was another of his projects as the old building had become obsolete.
When he resigned in 1991 (two years before the normal retirement age of 75) due to his failing eyesight, he was one of the few active bishops that attended the Second Vatican Council. He retired in Oklahoma his adopted home and assisted Archbishop Beltran with celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation until he was no longer able. He died on March 17, 2003 at the age of 86.
John R. Quinn was born in Riverside, California, on March 28, 1929. He studied for the Diocese of San Diego, California, and was ordained on July 19, 1953.
At the age of thirty-eight, he was named as auxiliary bishop for San Diego and was consecrated on December 12, 1967. There he served until being named Bishop of the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa on November 17, 1971. While bishop, he oversaw the split of the Diocese into the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City (of which he became the first Archbishop) and the Diocese of Tulsa. The announcement of this critical change to the Church in Oklahoma occurred on December 13, 1972. This process required long hours of planning and a creative imagination a gift that Archbishop Quinn possessed in abundance.
During his time as Archbishop in Oklahoma City, he is remembered for being exceptionally fair while implementing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council as well keeping the Archdiocese on the proper course during this tumultuous time. Erudite, urbane and supremely gifted, Archbishop Quinn was seen as bishop who on his way to somewhere else. However, he freely stated that his years in Oklahoma were the golden years of his priesthood and spoke of his great affection for the people and clergy of this state.
In 1977, Archbishop Quinn was names the Archbishop of San Francisco, California. He joked that he was the “first bishop to get out of Oklahoma alive” since his predecessors had all died in office. During his tenure there, he was named the President of the USCC/NCCB and held this position from 1977-1980.
He retired as Archbishop in San Francisco in 1995. After his retirement, he lectured throughout the United States and Europe and published the book The Reform of the Papacy in 1999. His final book was titled Revered and Reviled: A Reexamination of Vatican Council I and was published posthumously. Archbishop Quinn died on June 22, 2017.
Victor J. Reed was born on December 23, 1905, in Montpelier, Indiana. He was ordained in Rome on December 21, 1929, for what then known as the Diocese of Oklahoma (it did not become the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa until 1933).
He served in various capacities throughout the diocese and was sent to Louvain for doctoral studies which he finished in 1939. While serving as the rector of Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa, he was given the honor of papal chamberlain in 1949 and then domestic prelate in 1953.
In 1957, Monsignor Reed was named Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Bishop McGuinness died before the newly named bishop could be consecrated and Monsignor Reed was named diocesan administrator. Shortly after, he was named the fourth Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa being consecrated on March 5, 1958. He was a rare case of a local priest becoming bishop in his home diocese and the attendant problems pros (knowing the diocese) and cons (familiarity) were evident.
During his episcopate, Bishop Reed participated in the Second Vatican Council and his conviction that the Church needed sweeping renewal caused him no end of consternation. Heeding the words of Pope John XXIII, he sanctioned the mission in Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala. His support of the Mission and Father Stanley Rother was unwavering. He appreciated the work effort of Blessed Stanley and saw his talents as useful for Guatemala.
Ahead of his time on many fronts, he was the first American bishop to question the Vietnam War publicly signing a petition calling for peace negotiations to commence. As Father David Monahan pointed out: “The combination of Bishop Reed’s openness to new ideas, the conviction that changes were needed in the Church, and a difficulty in saying ‘no’ made his later years filled with tension and constant harassment.” Conservatives believed that he allowed an excessive amount of latitude for experimentation and progressives were sometimes extreme leading to a great deal of personal suffering and anguish.
He died suddenly of a heart attack on September 8, 1971. Those who knew him speak of his loyalty to the church and as a gifted intellectual.
Born September 6, 1889 in Hellerton, Pennsylvania, Eugene J. McGuinness was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on May 22, 1915. Due to his fascination with the missions, he was eventually named vice-president of the Catholic Church Extension Society in Chicago and consequently became close friends with the founder of Extension, the soon to be Bishop of Oklahoma Francis Clement Kelley whom he affectionately called “The Boss.”
In 1937, McGuinness was named bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina. The health of Bishop Kelley had become a problem and Kelley asked for a co-adjutor to assist him with power of succession. After serving for seven years in an area where the population was a little over 1% Catholic, Bishop McGuinness was asked to come to Oklahoma (about 3% Catholic)to be the coadjutor bishop with full ordinary power. His appointment was approved by the Apostolic Delegate since wartime conditions did not allow a formal document from Rome. Arriving in January of 1945, the arrangement was unusual but several strokes made it impossible for Bishop Kelley to lead. With the death of Kelley in 1948, Bishop McGuinness was officially the bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
His thirteen years of service coincided with the postwar boom and his seemingly inexhaustible energy and extroverted personality made him the ideal leader for the Church in Oklahoma. With a cigar firmly clinched in his teeth, he was a force of nature who fought for his vision of a diocesan seminary and a Catholic Church in every county (upon his demise there were 75 out of 77). Another goal was an increase in home grown clergy uttering his now famous phrase, “You have given me your money, now give me your flesh and blood!” and the response was staggering. Vocations skyrocketed. He also made trips to Ireland and London to recruit Irish and exiled Polish priests to serve in Oklahoma. The impact of these priests is immeasurable.
He guided the church through a phenomenal period of growth and prosperity. In 1955, the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa celebrated 50 years as an entity and Bishop McGuinness inaugurated the Golden Jubilee Drive that would improve services throughout the diocese and pay for the seminary of which he had dreamed. The Jubilee celebration was capped off by a parade and outdoor Mass at the State Fairgrounds attended by thousands.
In 1956, the Diocese undertook its most ambitious effort to evangelize Oklahoma. Operation Understanding encouraged parishes to hold open houses and to welcome all non-Catholics to ask questions they may have had about Catholicism. It was a concerted effort to show the Church at her best and extend hospitality.
Bishop McGuinness died unexpectedly on December 27, 1957.
Francis Clement Kelley was one of the true giants of the 20th century church in America. A Canadian by birth (Prince Edward Island), Kelley was born on November 24, 1870. Growing up in Charlottetown, he attended seminary in the province of Quebec and due to the exposure to French Canada became a proponent of preserving the culture. His admiration for oppressed peoples and the less favored would be a hallmark of his priestly life.
With lingering health concerns due the maritime climate, he transferred to the Diocese of Detroit in Michigan and was ordained on August 23, 1893. After five years as a parish priest, he served as chaplain for the 32nd Regiment of the Michigan Volunteers during the Spanish-American War in 1898. While serving in the parish he was profoundly affected by the poverty he witnessed among the rural communities. Not only was it a struggle for the parish to be maintained, priests were living in deplorable conditions. This was to be the genesis for his greatest accomplishment, the founding of the Catholic Church Extension Society.
In his desire to alleviate the plight of rural Catholicism, Extension was founded in 1905. This organization is still functioning and aids missionary dioceses with funding. With the headquarters being in Chicago, Kelley became a priest of the Chicago Archdiocese in 1907. The organization and his influence grew.
Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago championed his cause in the beginning as he asked now Monsignor Kelley to preach the funeral homily for Mother Francis Cabrini who later would be the first American (naturalized) to be canonized a saint. He was also asked to represent the exiled bishops of Mexico who had been removed during the revolution. This involvement would lead to his championing the cause of the church in Mexico and his representative status would lead him to the Paris Peace talks after the Great War. It was during his time in Paris that his proposal for solving the “Rome problem” led to the Lateran Concordat of 1929 setting up the Vatican City State that still exists today.
By 1924, Kelley’s relationship with Cardinal Mundelein had deteriorated and Mundelein thought it was time that Kelley “test out his theories of rural ministry” as the second bishop of the Diocese of Oklahoma. Full of ideas and vision he set out to bring Catholicism to the forefront in Oklahoma. His successful capital campaign in 1926 gave the necessary financial clout to begin to get the diocese on the road to growth. Unfortunately, the Great Depression halted his efforts and the goal in many cases was to keep the doors open. There was no money to experiment and this continual lack of funds was a source of frustration to the bishop for the majority of his episcopate.
He did have the ability to present Catholicism in a positive light in a state that harbored deep seated prejudices. Non-Catholic friends such as Governor Bill Murray and oil magnate Frank Phillips sought his company. His influence on higher education was profound as his address to university presidents on the “Greater University” was adopted by Governor Murray as his own.
With the dawn of World War II, the Depression ended and financial tensions eased. Bishop Kelley’s health began to decline in 1942 and by 1944 he requested a co-adjutor bishop with the right of succession and “ordinary” power. His request was granted in the person Eugene McGuinness, Bishop of Raleigh, and his old friend from Extension. Bishop McGuinness was appointed on November 11, 1944. Illness dominated his final years and Bishop Kelley left this world on February 1, 1948.
Theophile Meerschaert was born in the town of Russignies, Flanders, Belgium, on August 24, 1847, as the ninth of ten children. The young Meerschaert grew up in an environment that was rural and lacking creature comforts but unabashedly Catholic. At the age of twelve he had decided that God was calling him to priesthood. Near the end of seminary training at the prestigious American College at Louvain, he chose the Diocese of Natchez, Mississippi, to begin his missionary career.
He arrived in Natchez in 1872 and while ministering to the sick during a yellow fever epidemic contracted the disease. Near death, he recovered and his zeal for the faith became the stuff of legend.
Om May 29, 1891, a papal bull was issued creating the Vicariate Apostolic of Indian Territory and appointing Theophile Meerschaert as the Vicar Apostolic. He was consecrated a bishop in Natchez before his arrival and immediately began to search out Catholics wherever they may be. One of the first tasks he faced was to recruit clergy. The first priest to be ordained for the Vicariate was William Henry Ketchem, a Texas transplant who would eventually become the Director of the Catholic Indian Bureau in Washington. Throughout his episcopate he traveled several times across the Atlantic to bring priests to Oklahoma.
Life on the prairies was harsh and taxing but his unflagging energy and need to spread the Gospel was an example to the people of Oklahoma. After fourteen years as a vicariate, the Diocese of Oklahoma was erected on August 17, 1905. During his thirty-two years as bishop he dedicated 126 churches and 45 parochial schools began as well as 8 high schools. While his thrust initially was ministering to the American Indians the church in Oklahoma evolved into an immigrant reality with Irish, Italians, Poles, Czechs and Germans to be served. The rigors of his efforts took a toll as he died in 1924. His doctor recalled: “I have never met a man, not excepting my own father, that I have a greater respect for. He was the soul of hospitality, cordial, generous, and charitable to a fault.”