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Bishop James Mahoney was
born in Saskatoon
on December 7th 1927. He was the youngest of four children. He attended St. Paul's Elementary school and City Park
High school. For
college he attended St. Peter's in Muenster. He was later sent to attend
St. Peter's seminary in London.
He was given minor orders in the year 1950 and on June 7th, 1952 he was
ordained to priesthood in St. Paul’s
Cathedral by Bishop Klein. He then served as an assistant for nine years at
St. Paul's.
He later became the Pastor of Delisle where he stayed for four years. He
was also an administrator in Colonsay for one year. In total, he taught as
an educator for eleven years. He was a priest for about 42 years, and a
bishop for about 27 years. He was the bishop of Saskatoon from 1967 until 1995.
At the time of his ordination, Bishop James
Mahoney was the youngest member of the Canadian hierarchy. He was 39 years
old at the time. Throughout his life, Bishop James Mahoney was a part of
many things. While working as an educator, he became the first principal at
Holy Cross
High school in Saskatoon. He was a preacher at retreats,
he was a lecturer, and he campaigned for separate school rights
. He was involved in graduate work in sociology at the Catholic
University of America which is located in Washington, D.C.
On December 13th, 1967 Father Mahoney was
ordained a Bishop by Bishop Klein, his predecessor. The Archbishop Phillip
F. Pocock, and Archbishop Michael C. O'Neill were
also present at his ordination. Following his ordination he became an
important guest at many various receptions, and was also the subject of
interviews. In 1968, Bishop Mahoney appointed Monsignor Robinson as the
Vicar General.
The following year, Bishop Mahoney started on
an ecumenical venture where he, along with Bishop Ford and Dr. and Mrs. E.
H. Baergen came together to form the New Sherbrooke Community Society. This
society allowed the Sherbrooke Nursing home to remain active in the
community.
In 1973 the clergy along with ten
others from thirty-five different parishes
met at Holy
Cross High
School to discuss establishing diocesan and
parish priorities. They also discussed a document for the 1974 Synod of
Bishops which was titled "The Evangelization of the Modern
World." In the end it was a success because it had come from a list of
needs and priorities.
In 1974 Bishop Mahoney invited the parishes to consider sharing a fund
called “Inter Parish Co-responsibility", because resources that
were available to parishes were uneven. His idea was to attempt providing a
fund from which parishes could balance budgets. By September of that year,
the diocese that had been laid out years earlier had been affected. Five
pastorial regions had now been created. The five regions were: 1. Saskatoon
Rural West, 2. Saskatoon Rural South, 3. Saskatoon City West, 4. Saskatoon
City East, and 5. Saskatoon Rural East.
In 1979 Bishop Mahoney began active participation in a Refugee Sponsorship
for the unfortunate people who had fled from South
East Asia
. The following year he visited the mission Uniao dos
Palmares, along with Father Bernard de Margerie. When they returned to
Saskatoon, Bishop
Mahoney advised that the Senate of Priests stay involved and committed to
the Brazilian mission at least until 1988.
In 1981, the bishop's residence on College Drive
was sold to the Cancer Society in order for it to be converted into a
hostel for cancer patients that needed to receive treatment. Bishop Mahoney
then moved to another residence located on Spadina Crescent.
Bishop James Patrick Mahoney died March 2nd,
1995 at the age of 62.
Sources: #1, #2,
Roberston, D.F. The Sword of St. Paul A
History of the Diocese of Saskatoon
1933-1983.
The Episcopal Corporation
of Saskatoon,
1982. Saskatoon, Canada.
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