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Reverend Thomas A. Boland, S.T.D., LL.D., was installed as the
Second Archbishop of Newark on January 14, 1953. Boland was educated at
Seton Hall where he had been valedictorian of his class. He was a seminarian
at the North American College in Rome where he was also ordained. He eventually
came to chair both moral theology and canon law at the Seminary. In 1940
he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop in recognition for his hard work in
multiple offices and capacities. He was elevated to Bishop of Paterson
in 1947 where he stayed until the death of his mentor, Archbishop Walsh.
Archbishop
Boland participated in the Vatican Council II in Rome which was in session
from 1962 to 1965. He was elected by his peers to head the Bishops'
Study Committee, to which he was reelected each of his three years there.
Additionally he was chosen to serve on the Catholic Mission Board of
the United States, Chair of the Episcopal Committee and as liaison between
women religious and the hierarchy of the United States. Upon returning
to Newark the turmoil of the 1960's was erupting.
The
Newark community was torn with racial strife during the Civil Rights
Movement. Archbishop Boland made it clear that he would not allow the
rights of African Americans to be compromised. He urged compliance with
the Bishops' Letter on Social Justice (1958) which emphasized the Catholic
obligation to ensure that all African Americans had all of the rights
guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. In 1967 the Newark Riots began
but did not deter the clergy from their mission.
Boland
dedicated the finished Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on October 19,
1954. He retired on April 2, 1974 and died on March 16, 1979. His remains
rest with some of his predecessors in Sacred Heart Cathedral's crypt.
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