James Patterson Lyke

James Patterson Lyke, OFM (b. 18 February 1939, Chicago, Illinois - d. 27 December 1992, Atlanta, Georgia) was an African-American Franciscan friar, who became the fourth Archbishop of Atlanta.

Episcopal Motto: "CHRISTUS PAX" (translation: "Christ Our Peace"), taken from Ephesians 2: 13-14

Lyke joined the Order of Friars Minor in 1959. He was ordained on 24 June 1966.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, at the Our Lady of Angles House (at Quincy College, Quincy, Illinois), a Master of Divinity, at St. Joseph Theological Seminary in Teutopolis, Illinois, and a Ph.D in Theology at the Union Graduate School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Episcopal service

Lyke was appointed Titular Bishop of Furnos Maior and Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland by Pope John Paul II on 30 June 1979, then was Auxiliary Bishop, Diocese of Cleveland (1 August 1979 - 10 July 1990). He was Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Atlanta (10 July 1990 - 30 April 1991) and Archbishop of Atlanta (30 April 1991 - 27 December 1992).

Ministry Assignments

*Religion Teacher, Franciscan High School (Parma, Ohio)

1968 - 1977 (Memphis, Tennessee)
*Pastor, St. Thomas Church

1977-1979 (Grambling, Louisiana)
*Pastor, St. Benedict the Black Church
*Chaplain, Newman Center (campus ministry) at Grambling State University

1979-1990 (Cleveland, Ohio)Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland
*Episcopal Vicar for the urban region of the Diocese of Cleveland: 73 parishes, 50 Catholic elementary schools, 7 Catholic high schools, 21 social service agencies, approximately 140,00 individual Catholics

1990-1992 (Atlanta, Georgia)
*Archdiocese of Atlanta

Life's work

He was a major player in the Black Catholic Movement - a movement of African American Catholics in the United States to accept the call of the Second Vatican Council by infusing Black culture into Catholic Christian expression.

He was President of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.

He co-ordinated the hymnal project that created "LEAD ME, GUIDE ME: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CATHOLIC HYMNAL", published in 1987 by GIA Publications, Inc.

He served on the administrative committee and the administrative board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He helped to establish the Black Liturgy Subcommittee of the Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy.

He was a Board Member of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. Bishops' domestic anti-poverty campaign - the largest funder of community-controlled self-help groups that seek to eliminate poverty.

Namesake

* [http://www.lykehouse.org/| Lyke House] - the Catholic Center in the Atlanta University Center - is named for him.

*Archbishop Lyke Catholic Elementary School in Cleveland-Garfield Heights is named after him. In 1994, Saints Catherine and Henry in Cleveland and Saint Timothy in Garfield Heights which are predominately African-American Catholic parishes merged their grade schools into Archbishop Lyke Elementary. They have a three campus system. K-3 (St.Catherine) 4-6 (St.Henry) 7-8 (St.Timothy)