Kearney was appointed the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Rochester on October 21, 1937. He was installed on November 11, 1937. During his 29-year tenure, the number of Catholics in the diocese rose from 223,657 to 361,790; the parishes from 129 to 155; the priests from 289 to 371; and the parochial schools from 72 to 99. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome between 1962 and 1965. He also served as state chaplain for the Knights of Columbus and moderator of the Newman Club Federation. Kearney also did much of the original planning that led to the foundation of McQuaid Jesuit High School in Brighton, New York. Retirement and legacy On October 21, 1966, Pope Paul VI accepted Kearney's resignation as bishop of Rochester and appointed him as titular bishop of Tabaicara. He resigned his titular see on January 18, 1971. James Kearney died on January 12, 1977, at St. Ann's Home in Rochester, at age 92.The following buildings or schools are named after Bishop Kearney: Bishop Kearney High School in Irondequoit, New York Kearney Residence Hall at Nazareth College in Pittsford, New York Kearney Hall at Saint John Fisher College in Pittsford is named for his mother. Viewpoints Politics In 1936, Kearney spoke before the Knights of Columbus, urging them to fight communism and saying, "The spirit of Christ has been driven out of one organization after another...When statesmen meet no thought of God or representative of God is in their council." During World War II, Kearney declared, "The spirit of Christianity can dictate a lasting peace, but secularism, exploitation or totalitarianism cannot, whether of Nazi, Communist or Fascist variety." Popular culture Kearney condemned what he termed the "mad craze for entertainment" in modern society, including picture magazines, saying man had brought evil upon himself because he did not "pause to take stock of his relationship with God." In 1947, he denounced the 1947 film Forever Amber as a "glorification of immorality and licentiousness," and encouraged Catholics to boycott it. Education Kearney accused colleges of teaching their students "cynical precepts" and causing them to distrust the "perfect lessons they learned at their mother's knee." He also said, "Those who declare it doesn't make any difference what we believe in an attempt to attain religious harmony will fail. For religious intolerance was created...by people who sold dogmatic teaching short." Notes |- 1884 births