John O'Connor (cardinal) explained

Type:

Cardinal

Honorific-Prefix:

His Eminence

John O'Connor

Cardinal, Archbishop of New York

See:

Archdiocese of New York

Appointed:

January 26, 1984

Enthroned:

March 19, 1984

Ended:

May 3, 2000

Predecessor:

Terence Cooke

Successor:

Edward Egan

Ordination:

December 15, 1945

Ordained By:

Hugh L. Lamb

Consecration:

May 27, 1979

Consecrated By:

John Paul II

Cardinal:

May 25, 1985

Created Cardinal By:

John Paul II

Rank:

Cardinal Priest

Biography

Early life

John O'Connor was born in Philadelphia on January 15, 1920, the fourth of five children of Thomas J. O'Connor, and Dorothy Magdalene (née Gomple) O'Connor. Thomas was a painter and Dorothy was the daughter of Gustave Gumpel, a kosher butcher and Jewish rabbi.^[1] In 2014, it was discovered that Dorothy was baptized a Catholic at age 19 and that the couple wed one year later.^[2]

O'Connor attended public schools in Philadelphia until his junior year of high school, when he enrolled in West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys. Having decided to become a priest, he then enrolled at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.^[3] ^[4]

Priesthood

After graduating from St. Charles, O'Connor was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on December 15, 1945, in Philadelphia by Auxiliary Bishop Hugh L. Lamb. After his 1945 ordination, the archdiocese assigned O'Connor as a faculty member at St. James High School in Chester, Pennsylvania.^[5] ^[6] During this seven-year period, O'Connor obtained a Master of Arts degree in advanced ethics from Villanova University in Philadelphia and a Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.^[7]

O'Connor joined the United States Navy Chaplain Corps in 1952 during the Korean War.He was eventually named rear admiral and chief of chaplains of the Navy in 1975.He obtained approval for the establishment of the RP [Religious Program Specialist] Enlisted Rating, and oversaw the process of standing up this rating. The RP rating provided chaplains with a dedicated enlisted community. The Vatican named O'Connor as an honorary prelate of his holiness on October 27, 1966.^[8]

O'Connor received a doctorate in political science from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he studied under future United Nations ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick said of O'Connor that he was "... surely one of the two or three smartest graduate students I've ever had."^[9]

Auxiliary Bishop of the Military Vicariate US

On April 24, 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed O'Connor as an auxiliary bishop of the Military Vicariate for the United States and titular bishop of Cursola. He was consecrated to the episcopate on May 27, 1979, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by John Paul himself, with Cardinals Duraisamy Lourdusamy and Eduardo Somalo acting as co-consecrators.

Bishop of Scranton

On May 6, 1983, John Paul II named O'Connor as bishop of Scranton; he was installed in that position on June 29, 1983.

Archbishop of New York

Cardinal Name:	John O'Connor
Dipstyle:	His Eminence
Offstyle:	Your Eminence
See:	New York

On January 26, 1984, after the death of Cardinal Terence Cooke, O'Connor was appointed archbishop of New York and administrator of the Military Vicariate by John Paul II; O'Connor was installed on March 19, 1984.

O'Connor was elevated to cardinal in the May 25, 1985, consistory, with the titular church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Rome (the traditional one for the Archbishop of New York from 1946 to 2009).

On December 10, 1989, 4,500 members of ACT UP and Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM) demonstrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan to voice their opposition to O'Connor's positions on HIV/AIDS education, the distribution of condoms in public schools, and abortion rights for women. Police arrested 43 protestors from inside the cathedral.^[10]

Throughout his tenure as archbishop of New York, Cardinal O'Connor advocated on behalf of many groups whom he believed to be downtrodden, but there was no group that he advocated for more strongly than the unborn. To that end, O'Connor started a religious order of women known as the Sisters of Life, which still exists today.

O'Connor had a close relationship with Pope John Paul II, and both leaders were very similar in their emphasis, including a focus on the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. When naming O'Connor the Archbishop of New York in 1984, the pope is purported to have said "I want someone like myself in New York". In 1995, for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Pope Saint John Paul II visited New York and while there, O'Connor hosted him at Saint Patrick's Cathedral for a rosary service on October 7, 1995 for which O'Connor appointed Joseph Polchinski as one of the servers.

Illness and death

When O'Connor reached the retirement age for bishops of 75 years in January 1995, he submitted his resignation to Pope John Paul II as required by canon law.^[11] However the pope did not accept the resignation, and O'Connor continued to serve as Archbishop of New York until his death.

O'Connor was diagnosed in 1999 with a brain tumor, and died in the archbishop's residence in Manhattan on May 3, 2000. He was interred in the crypt beneath the main altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral. His funeral was presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano.^[12] At O'Connor's request, Cardinal Bernard F. Law delivered the homily and Cardinal William W. Baum the eulogy.^[13] Attendees at O'Connor's funeral included:

Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan
US President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and Vice President Al Gore
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
former President George H. W. Bush and Texas Governor George W. Bush
- New York Governor George Pataki New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former New York City Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins.

Legacy

The John Cardinal O'Connor Pavilion in the Bronx, a residence for retired priests, opened in 2003.^[14]
The John Cardinal O'Connor School in Irvington, New York, for students with learning differences, opened in 2009.^[15]
The Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life is held annually at Georgetown University.^[16]

The New York Times called O'Connor "a familiar and towering presence, a leader whose views and personality were forcefully injected into the great civic debates of his time, a man who considered himself a conciliator, but who never hesitated to be a combatant", and one of the Catholic Church's "most powerful symbols on moral and political issues."

According to New York City Mayor Ed Koch: "Cardinal O'Connor was a great man, but he was like the Pentagon. He was incapable of saving money."^[17]

Awards

Jackie Robinson Empire State Medal of Freedom – December 21, 2000^[18]
Congressional Gold Medal – March 7, 2000

Viewpoints

Human life

O'Connor was a forceful opponent of abortion, human cloning, capital punishment, human trafficking, and unjust war.^[19]

O'Connor in 1996 assailed what he called the "horror of euthanasia", asking rhetorically, "What makes us think that permitted lawful suicide will not become obligated suicide?"^[20]
In 2000, O'Connor called for a "major overhaul" of the punitive Rockefeller drug laws in New York State, which he believed produced "grave injustices".^[21]

US foreign policy

In the 1980s, O'Connor condemned US support for counterrevolutionary guerrilla forces in Central America, opposed the U.S. mining of the waters off Nicaragua, questioned government spending on new weapons systems, and preached caution in regard to American military actions abroad.
In 1998, O'Connor questioned whether the United States' cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan were morally justifiable.^[22]
In 1999, during the Kosovo War, O'Connor repeatedly challenged the morality of NATO's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia,^[23] suggesting that it did not meet the Catholic Church's criteria for a just war. At one point, he asked, "Does the relentless bombing of Yugoslavia prove the power of the Western world or its weakness?"^[24]
In 1998. O'Connor insisted that the traditional just war principles must be applied to evaluate the morality of military responses to unconventional warfare and terrorism.

Organized labor

In 1984, SEIU 1199, the largest health care workers union in New York City, went on strike against the League of Voluntary Hospitals, of which the archdiocesan hospitals were members. O'Connor strongly criticized the League for threatening to fire striking union members. He called it "strikebreaking" and vowed that no Catholic hospital would participate in such an action .^[25] After a year of stalled negotiations, O'Connor threatened to make a separate agreement with the SEIU 1199 "that gives justice to the workers". In a Labor Day homily at St. Patrick's in 1986, O'Connor said:

"[S]o many of our freedoms in this country, so much of the building up of society, is precisely attributable to the union movement, a movement that I personally will defend despite the weakness of some of its members, despite the corruption with which we are all familiar that pervades all society, a movement that I personally will defend with my life."

In 1987, the television broadcast employees' union went on strike against the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). At one point, a non-union crew from NBC appeared at O'Connor's residence to cover a press conference. O'Connor declined to admit them, directing his secretary to "tell them they're not invited."

Following O'Connor's death in 2002, SEIU 1199 called him "the patron saint of working people". It described his support for low-wage and other workers, his efforts in helping the limousine drivers unionize, his help in mediating a labor strike at The Daily News, and his pushing for fringe benefits for minimum-wage home health care workers.^[26]

Relations with Jewish community

In 1987, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel called O'Connor, "a good Christian" and a man "who understands our pain."^[27]
O'Connor in 1996 strongly denounced anti-Semitism, declaring that one "cannot be a faithful Christian and an anti-Semite. They are incompatible, because anti-Semitism is a sin."^[28] He wrote an apology to Jewish leaders in New York City for past harm committed by the Catholic Church to the Jewish community.^[29]
In 1998, O'Connor criticized the failure of Swiss banks to compensate Jewish Holocaust victims whose stolen assets had been deposited in Switzerland during World War II by German Nazi leaders. He called it "a human rights issue, an issue of the human race."^[30] Even when disagreeing with him over political questions, Jewish leaders acknowledged that O'Connor was "a friend, a powerful voice against anti-Semitism".^[31]
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs in 2000 called O'Connor "a true friend and champion of Catholic–Jewish relations, [and] a humanitarian who used the power of his pulpit to advocate for disadvantaged people throughout the world and in his own community."^[32]

Relations with the LGBT community

HIV/AIDS

In the early 1980s, O'Connor opened a specialized HIV/AIDS medical unit in St. Clare's Hospital in Manhattan, the first of its kind in the state. ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) protested in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1987, holding placards such as "Cardinal O'Connor Loves Gay People ... If They Are Dying of AIDS."

O'Connor made an effort to minister to 1,000 people dying of HIV/AIDS and their families,^[33] following up on other HIV/AIDS patients.^[34] He visited Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center, where he cleaned the sores and emptied the bedpans of more than 1,100 patients. According to reports, O'Connor was popular with the Saint Vincent's patients, many of whom did not know he was the archbishop, and was supportive of other priests who ministered to gay men and others with HIV/AIDS.^[35]

In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan appointed O'Connor to the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic, also known as the Watkins Commission. O'Connor served with 12 other members, few of whom were HIV/AIDS experts.^[36] HIV/AIDS researchers and activists initially criticized the commission members as lacking expertise on the disease and as being in disarray.^[37] The commission report in 1988 called for anti-bias laws to protect HIV-positive patients, on-demand treatment for those with substance abuse problems, and the speeding of HIV/AIDS-related research.^[38] The New York Times praised the commission's "remarkable strides" and its proposed US$2 billion campaign against HIV/AIDS among drug users.^[39]

Hate crimes against LGBTQ

O'Connor led the 1990 funeral Mass at St. Joseph's Church in Staten Island for James Zappalorti, a murdered gay man.^[40] O'Connor later endorsed a statewide hate crime law that included crimes motivated by sexual orientation, which passed shortly after his own death in 2000.^[41]

Job discrimination against LGBTQ

O'Connor actively opposed an attempt by the City of New York to outlaw sexual discrimination by its contractors. In 1980, Mayor Ed Koch issued Executive Order 50, which required all city contractors, including religious entities, to provide services on a non-discriminatory basis with respect to race, creed, age, sex, handicap, as well as "sexual orientation or preference".^[42]

When the city warned the Salvation Army that its contracts for child care services would be canceled if it failed to comply, the archdiocese threatened to cancel its contracts if given the same warning. O'Connor maintained that the executive order would cause the Catholic Church to appear to condone homosexual activity.^[43] Writing in Catholic New York in January 1985, O'Connor characterized the order as "an exceedingly dangerous precedent [that would] invite unacceptable governmental intrusion into and excessive entanglement with the Church's conducting of its own internal affairs." Drawing the traditional Catholic distinction between homosexual "inclinations" and "behavior", he stated that "we do not believe that homosexual behavior ... should be elevated to a protected category."

We do not believe that religious agencies should be required to employ those engaging in or advocating homosexual behavior. We are willing to consider on a case-by-case basis the employment of individuals who have engaged in or may at some future time engage in homosexual behavior. We approach those who have engaged in or may engage in what the Church considers illicit heterosexual behavior the same way. ...We believe, however, that only a religious agency itself can properly determine the requirements of any particular job within that agency, and whether or not a particular individual meets or is reasonably likely to meet such requirements.

After a protracted legal battle, the New York Court of Appeals in 1986 upheld lower court decisions striking down Executive Order 50.^[44]

O'Connor opposed city and state legislation guaranteeing LGBTQ civil rights, including legislation prohibiting discrimination based upon sexual orientation in housing, public accommodations and employment.

St. Patrick's Day parade and LGBTQ participation

O'Connor supported the 1993 decision by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which operated the St. Patrick's Day parade in Manhattan, to bar the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization from marching under its own banner.^[45] The Hibernians argued that the First Amendment of the US Constitution protected their decision and that they could not be compelled to admit a group whose beliefs conflicted with theirs.^[46] The city subsequently denied the Hibernians a permit for the parade. However, in 1993, a federal judge in New York held that the city's permit denial was "patently unconstitutional" because the parade was private, not public, and constituted "a pristine form of speech" as to which the parade sponsor had a right to control the content and tone.^[47]

In 1987, O'Connor prohibited DignityUSA, an organization of LGBTQ Catholics, from holding Masses in parishes in the archdiocese.^[48] After eight years of protests by the group, O'Connor started meeting with DignityUSA twice a year.^[49]

Condom use for HIV/AIDS prevention

Theodore McCarrick

In April 1986, O'Connor strongly endorsed the appointment of Theodore McCarrick, then bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark. However, In 1992 and 1993, O'Connor received several anonymous letters accusing McCarrick of sexually abusing seminarians, which he sent copies of to McCarrick.^[53] In 1994, before a papal visit by Pope John Paul II to the United States, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, became concerned about the pope visiting Newark, He had heard rumors that McCarrick had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior in Newark with seminarians. O'Connor conducted an investigation for Cacciavillan and concluded that there were "no impediments" to visiting that city.^[54]

In October 1996, when two psychiatrists judged that a priest's charge of sexual abuse by McCarrick was credible, O'Connor remained skeptical. That same month, however, he intervened to prevent a priest "too closely identified" with McCarrick from becoming an auxiliary bishop. O'Connor cited "a rather unsettled climate of opinion about certain issues" in Newark.

In October 1999, when John Paul II was considering transferring McCarrick to a more important archdiocese, O'Connor wrote a letter to the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. and the Congregation for Bishops. It summarized the charges against McCarrick, especially his repeatedly arrangement of seminarians and other men to share his bed, and concluded: "I regret that I would have to recommend very strongly against such promotion." According to reports, the pope read the letter.^[55]

McCarrick learned about O'Connor's letter from contacts in the Curia. In August 2000, several months after O'Connor's death, McCarrick sent a rebuttal to John Paul II, which allegedly convinced the pope to appoint him archbishop of Washington.^[56] McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in 2018, and was defrocked in 2019.^[57] ^[58]

Cited works

Book: Earley , James B. . 1994. Envisioning Faith: The Pictorial History of the Diocese of Scranton. Devon, Pennsylvania. W.T. Cooke Publishing.
Book: Feldman. Douglas A.. Wang Miller. Julia. 1998. The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History. Westport, Connecticut. Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-28715-2.
Book: Glenn , Charles L. . 2002. The Ambiguous Embrace: Government and Faith-Based Schools and Social Agencies. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 978-0-691-09280-5.
Book: Golway , Terry . Terry Golway. 2001. Full of Grace: An Oral Biography of John Cardinal O'Connor. New York. Simon & Schuster. 978-0-7434-4814-7.
Book: Hentoff , Nat . Nat Hentoff. 1988. John Cardinal O'Connor: At the Storm Center of a Changing American Catholic Church. New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. 978-0-684-18944-4.
Encyclopedia: Keller. Daniella E.. Gregory. David L.. 2012. O'Connor, John Cardinal (1920–2009). Coulter. Michael L.. Myers. Richard S.. Varacalli. Joseph A.. Joseph A. Varacalli. Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy. 3. Lanham, Maryland. Scarecrow Press. 248–251. 978-0-8108-8266-9.
Book: Marlin. George J.. Miner. Brad. 2017. Sons of Saint Patrick: A History of the Archbishops of New York, from Dagger John to Timmytown. San Francisco, California. Ignatius Press. 978-1-62164-113-1.
O'Connor. John J.. 1990. Abortion: Questions and Answers. limited. The Human Life Review. 16. 3. 65–96. New York. The Human Life Foundation. 0097-9783. November 4, 2017. 11656272.
Book: O'Connor. John. Koch. Edward I.. Ed Koch. 1989. His Eminence and Hizzoner. New York. William Morrow & Co.. 978-0-688-07928-4.
Book: Peddicord , Richard . 1996. Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Question: Sexual Ethics or Social Justice?. Kansas City, Missouri. Sheed & Ward. 978-1-55612-759-5.
Encyclopedia: 2001. Queen. Edward L. II. Prothero. Stephen R.. Stephen Prothero. Shattuck. Gardiner H.. Encyclopedia of American Religious History. 2. 2nd. New York. Facts on File. 978-0-8160-4335-4.
Web site: Report on the Holy See's institutional knowledge and decision-making process related to former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (from 1930 to 2017) . 10 November 2020 . Holy See Secretariat of State. November 12, 2020. .
Book: Rudin , James . A. James Rudin. 2012. Cushing, Spellman, O'Connor: The Surprising Story of How Three American Cardinals Transformed Catholic–Jewish Relations. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 978-0-8028-6567-0.

Notes and References

Web site: Langan . Sheila . June 11, 2014 . New York Cardinal John O'Connor Was the Grandson of a Jewish Rabbi . Irish Central . https://web.archive.org/web/20140615161624/http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-York-Cardinal-John-OConnor-was-the-grandson-of-a-Jewish-rabbi.html . June 15, 2014 . July 15, 2014 . dead .
News: McDonnell . Claudia . April 30, 2014 . Cardinal O'Connor's Mother Was Convert from Judaism, Family Research Reveals . Catholic New York . November 4, 2017.
Web site: John Joseph Cardinal O'Connor Roman Catholic, Archbishop of New York, Irish-American Britannica . 2024-04-24 . www.britannica.com . en.
News: Steinfels . Peter . 2000-05-04 . DEATH OF A CARDINAL; CARDINAL O'CONNOR, 80, DIES; FORCEFUL VOICE FOR VATICAN . 2024-04-24 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
News: Steinfels . Peter . Peter Steinfels . May 4, 2000 . Death of a Cardinal; Cardinal O'Connor, 80, Dies; Forceful Voice for Vatican . January 31, 2020 . The New York Times.
Web site: John Joseph Cardinal O'Connor [Catholic-Hierarchy] ]. 2024-04-24 . www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
Web site: Library : Cardinal O'Connor dies at age of 80 . 2024-04-24 . www.catholicculture.org.
Web site: John Joseph O'Connor. Salvador. Miranda. The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Florida International University. February 20, 2020. January 18, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200118013450/http://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1985.htm. dead.
Rosin, Hanna; McCarthy, Colman (May 4, 2000). "Cardinal John J. O'Connor Dies", The Washington Post.
News: Deparle . Jason . December 11, 1989 . 111 Held in St. Patrick's AIDS Protest . January 31, 2020 . The New York Times.
Web site: Can. 401 §1 . Code of Canon Law . Libreria Editrice Vaticana . September 22, 2018.
News: May 8, 2000 . O'Connor Entombed at St. Patrick's Cathedral . USA Today . March 13, 2007.
News: Caulfield . Brian . McDonnell . Claudia . January 2000 . 'He Hasn't Left' . Catholic New York . December 31, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070912041301/http://www.cny.org/archive/ft/f2051100.htm . September 12, 2007.
Web site: Financial Services Report . Archdiocese of New York . 2016 . 6.
News: Cardinal O'Connor School 'Shows Us What Catholic Schools Are All About' . Dan . Pietrafesa . Catholic New York . January 30, 2020 . February 10, 2020.
Web site: Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life . July 22, 2023 . Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life.
News: Powell . Michael . April 23, 2007 . At 75, a Battle-Tested but Unwavering Cardinal . The New York Times . February 9, 2020.
Book: Leonard . Bill J. . Bill J. Leonard . Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States: A-L . Crainshaw . Jill Y. . Jill Y. Crainshaw . ABC-CLIO . 2013 . 9781598848670.
News: O'Connor . John J. . April 29, 1999 . Conditions for a Just War . Catholic New York . November 4, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100920064519/http://cny.org/archive/cv/cv042999.htm . September 20, 2010.
News: Bruni . Frank . Frank Bruni . April 8, 1996 . Cardinal's Easter Joy Is Tempered by Court Ruling on Aided Suicide . The New York Times . November 4, 2017.
News: O'Connor . John J. . February 3, 2000 . The Rockefeller Drug Laws . Catholic New York . November 4, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081007081417/http://www.cny.org/archive/cv/cv020300.htm . October 7, 2008.
News: O'Connor . John J. . August 27, 1998 . Were the Attacks Morally Justifiable? . Catholic New York . November 4, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071009212456/http://cny.org/archive/cv/cv082798.htm . October 9, 2007.
News: O'Connor . John J. . June 3, 1999 . Many Moral Questions on Kosovo Conflict . Catholic New York . November 4, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071009212513/http://cny.org/archive/cv/cv060399.htm . October 9, 2007.
News: O'Connor . John J. . May 13, 1999 . Ten Good Men for a Power-Mad World . Catholic New York . November 4, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071009213024/http://cny.org/archive/cv/cv051399.htm . October 9, 2007.
News: Sullivan . Ronald . September 2, 1985 . O'Connor Says He May Uphold Hospital Accord . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
News: Greenhouse . Steven . Steven Greenhouse . July 24, 2000 . Union Celebrates O'Connor's Labor Views . January 31, 2020 . The New York Times.
News: Goldman . Ari L. . Ari L. Goldman . February 15, 1987 . For Cardinal, Wiesel Visit Proved a Calm in Storm over Trip . October 30, 2017 . The New York Times.
Rudin . A. James . A. James Rudin . 2005 . A Jewish–Catholic Friendship . America . 193 . 5 . October 30, 2017.
News: Lookstein . Haskel . Haskel Lookstein . May 12, 2000 . The Cardinal's Epistles to the Jews . The Jewish Week.
News: O'Connor . John J. . August 16, 1998 . When Will the Holocaust Really End? . Catholic New York . October 30, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100920055447/http://cny.org/archive/cv/cv080698.htm . September 20, 2010.
News: Goldman . Ari L. . Ari L. Goldman . January 12, 1987 . O'Connor Is Upset by Critics of Trip . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
May 4, 2000 . JCPA Mourns Death of John Cardinal O'Connor: Jewish Community Loses 'Good Friend' . New York . Jewish Council for Public Affairs . https://web.archive.org/web/20110720015615/http://www.jewishpublicaffairs.org/press/recent/oconner%2005-04-00.html . July 20, 2011 . October 30, 2017.
O'Loughlin, Michael . The Catholic hospital that pioneered AIDS care . PLAGUE: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church . . December 8, 2019 . January 8, 2020.
News: Goldman . Ari L. . Ari L. Goldman . July 27, 1987 . 300 Fault O'Connor Role on AIDS Commission . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
Meet the gay priest who served AIDS patients with Mass, prayers and art . Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS & the Catholic Church . . O'Loughlin, Michael . December 20, 2019 . January 9, 2020.
News: July 24, 1987 . Reagan's AIDS Panel: Who the Members Are . February 13, 2013 . The New York Times.
News: November 11, 1987 . AIDS Panel Head Says Rift Is Over . November 2, 2017 . The New York Times . The Associated Press.
Gilden . Dave . 2003 . Politics before Science? . https://web.archive.org/web/20110711172211/http://www.hivplusmag.com/Story.asp?id=34&categoryid=1 . July 11, 2011 . November 2, 2017 . HIV Plus . 6 . 2.
News: February 28, 1988 . The Right Fight Against AIDS; As the Admiral Says, Focus on Addicts . January 31, 2020 . The New York Times.
News: Mandulo . Rhea . January 27, 1990 . Funeral held for Vietnam vet slain in anti-gay attack . February 2, 2020 . United Press International.
News: Fitzgerald . Jim . July 10, 2000 . NY Signs Hate-Crime Law . January 31, 2020 . ABC News .
News: Barbanel . Josh . November 27, 1984 . Archdiocese Challenges Koch's Order on Hiring . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
News: Jones . Arthur . May 29, 1998 . A chronology of declarations, trips, some slips of the tongue and plain old political jousting . National Catholic Reporter . January 31, 2020.
News: Berger . Joseph . Joseph Berger (author) . February 7, 1986 . Brooklyn Diocese Joins Homosexual-Bill Fight . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
News: Pérez-Peña . Richard . Richard Pérez-Peña . January 20, 1993 . St. Patrick Parade Sponsor May Quit Over Gay Dispute . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
News: Onishi . Norimitsu . Norimitsu Onishi . March 16, 1994 . Irish Parade Becomes a Political Hurdle . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
March 1994 . New York City Abandons ILGO in St. Patrick's Day Dispute . Lesbian/Gay Law Notes . Lesbian & Gay Law Association of Greater New York . 8755-9021 . November 2, 2017.
News: March 16, 1987 . Homosexuals Protest Ending of Their Mass . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
Web site: Social Justice . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080509120832/http://www.dignityny.org/our_work/social_justice.html . May 9, 2008 . January 1, 2009 . Dignity New York.
News: Navarro . Mireya . January 3, 1993 . Ethics of Giving AIDS Advice Troubles Catholic Hospitals . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
News: Goldman . Ari L. . Ari L. Goldman . December 30, 1987 . Catholic Leader Rebuts O'Connor on Condom Issue . The New York Times . January 31, 2020.
News: Purdum . Todd S. . Todd S. Purdum . December 12, 1989 . Cardinal Says He Won't Yield to Protests . The New York Times . January 31, 2020 . Jay Blotcher, a spokesman for the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP, one of the protest's sponsors, said: 'Unfortunately, the dead bodies that the Cardinal is stepping over are the bodies of the people with AIDS who have already died. And what he faces are more bodies of people who could potentially contract the disease because the church refuses to give them access to safe-sex educuation.'.
News: Henao . Luis Andres . Schor . Elana . November 10, 2020 . Vatican report reveals anonymous letters accusing McCarrick . Washington Post . https://web.archive.org/web/20201112205529/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/vatican-report-reveals-anonymous-letters-accusing-mccarrick/2020/11/10/ae6b0c22-23b6-11eb-9c4a-0dc6242c4814_story.html. 12 November 2020.
Web site: Former nuncio to U.S. heard rumors of McCarrick misconduct in 1994 National Catholic Reporter . 2024-04-24 . www.ncronline.org . en.
News: McElwee . Joshua J. . November 11, 2020 . McCarrick and John Paul II: key moments in the Vatican's report . National Catholic Reporter . November 12, 2020.
News: Mares . Courtney . November 10, 2020 . McCarrick Report: What Cardinal O'Connor said in 1999 . Catholic News Agency . November 12, 2020.
News: Dias . Elisabeth . Horowitz . Jason . February 16, 2019 . Pope Defrocks Theodore McCarrick, Ex-Cardinal Accused of Sexual Abuse . November 13, 2020 . The New York Times.
News: Provoledo . Elisabetta . Otterman . Sharon . July 28, 2018 . Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Resigns Amid Sexual Abuse Scandal . November 13, 2020 . The New York Times.