Charity" (Ephesians 4:15). Hickey served as chairman of priestly formation within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 1968 to 1969. In March 1969, he became rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he would oversee the formation of American seminarians for the next five years. Bishop of Cleveland Hickey was named the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland on May 31, 1974 by Paul VI. Replacing Bishop Clarence Issenmann, he was installed on July 16 1974. During his tenure in Cleveland, Hickey was a advocate of racial unity and became active in justice issues involving El Salvador. In 1980, he traveled to El Salvador to attend the funeral of Archbishop Óscar Romero. Sister Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan, two women whom Hickey had commissioned to serve as missionaries in El Salvador, were later murdered there; he kept their photographs on the wall of his private chapel for the rest of his life. Archbishop of Washington Pope John Paul II appointed Hickey as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington on June 17, 1980. During the 1980's, Hickey lobbied members of the United States Congress to stop sending aid to the Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. He also pushed his fellow American bishops to take strong stands against increased military spending and in favor of nuclear disarmament. Hickey was one of the first American bishops to address the issue of sexual abuse by clergy, which would become a nationwide scandal in 2002. During the Salvadoran Civil War, Hickey opposed the Reagan administration's support for the military government of El Salvador. In 1981, Hickey told the US House Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs: "Our position is to oppose military aid and intervention from all outside powers." He feared a Communist takeover in El Salvador but opposed sending military assistance, believing such weapons would strengthen repressive elements in security forces. In 1983, Hickey was dispatched by John Paul II on an apostolic visitation to investigate liturgical abuses in the Archdiocese of Seattle, then led by Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen. Commenting on the visitation, Hickey said, "It wasn't easy, you know." Cardinal John Paul II created Hickey as cardinal priest of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore a Tor Bella Monaca in the consistory of June 28, 1988. At that point, Hickey was one of thirteen Americans in the College of Cardinals. That same year, Hickey was invited to lead a retreat