Russell McVinney

Most Reverend Russell Joseph McVinney (25 November 1898 – 10 August, 1971) was the fifth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island.

Early years and education

McVinney was born on 25 November 1898 in Warren, Rhode Island.cite web | title=Bishop Russell Joseph McVinney | work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org | url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmcvinney.html | accessdate=2008-06-12] As a seminarian for the diocese of Providence, he first studied at St. Charles Seminary in Catonsville, Maryland, the Grand Seminary in Montreal, and St. Bernard Seminary in Rochester, New York. At the conclusion of World War I, he was sent to do his theological studies at the Catholic University of Louvain while living at the newly reopened American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium.

He was ordained to the priesthood in Leuven on 18 July 1924. [Codd, Kevin, and Brian Dick: "The American College of Louvain: America's Seminary in the Heart of Europe", page 67. Peeters, nv, 2007.]

Ministry in Providence

McVinney, returning to the United Sates to minister as a priest in the diocese of Providence, served in a variety of capacities, including as rector of Our Lady of Providence Seminary. [Codd, Kevin, and Brian Dick: "The American College of Louvain: America's Seminary in the Heart of Europe", page 67. Peeters, nv, 2007.] During his tenure as rector, he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Providence by Pope Pius XII on 29 May 1948.cite web | title=Bishop Russell Joseph McVinney | work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org | url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmcvinney.html | accessdate=2008-06-12]

He was ordained to the episcopate on 14 July 1948.cite web | title=Bishop Russell Joseph McVinney | work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org | url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmcvinney.html | accessdate=2008-06-12] During his twenty-three years as bishop of Providence, McVinney founded twenty-eight new parishes, mostly in rapidly growing suburban and rural areas of the diocese. He also established forty new Catholic schools and oversaw the building of new buildings for many preexisting parochial schools. [Codd, Kevin, and Brian Dick: "The American College of Louvain: America's Seminary in the Heart of Europe", page 67. Peeters, nv, 2007.]

Reestablishment of the American College of Louvain

McVinney's "alma mater", the American College in Belgium, closed on the eve of the Second World War. In 1949, the bishops of the United States began to talk of reestablishing the seminary. McVinney, along with Bishop Matthew Brady of the diocese of Manchester, became a forceful advocate of reestablishing the college. [Codd, Kevin, and Brian Dick: "The American College of Louvain: America's Seminary in the Heart of Europe", page 67. Peeters, nv, 2007.]

When the bishops voted in 1951 to reestablish the American College, McVinney was made chair of the American College's new board of bishops. He appointed a priest of his diocese, fellow American College alumnus Thomas Francis Maloney, as the new rector. Maloney arrived back in Leuven in spring of 1952, and the new crop of seminarians, including a number from Providence, arrived that autumn. By the celebration of the college's centennial in 1957, the American College had been significant renovated and, as a result of the 1950s vocations boom in the United States, over a hundred seminarians were living and studying at McVinney's "alma mater". McVinney, present at the centennial celebrations, was granted an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Louvain, alongside his brother bishop and fellow Louvain alumnus, Fulton J. Sheen. [Codd, Kevin, and Brian Dick: "The American College of Louvain: America's Seminary in the Heart of Europe", page 68-70.. Peeters, nv, 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.dioceseofprovidence.org Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence]
* [http://www.acl.be American College at Louvain]