By: By Monsignor Timothy P. Stein

    Bishop James J. Hogan died as he lived.
    The Bishop - emeritus of Altoona - Johnstown, who died Tuesday, June 14 at age 93, was eulogized as a kind, gentle man. He was characterized as a man of prayer, intensely devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. A member of the Third Order of Carmel, Bishop Hogan frequently spoke of the priesthood as the “grandest fraternity in the world.”
    All of those elements were in place when he entered eternity at Garvey Manor Nursing Home in Hollidaysburg.
    At his bedside were long - time friend Monsignor Michael E. Servinsky, and the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm who staff Garvey Manor. The priest and nuns had recited prayers for the dying, and had just finished singing the Marian hymn “Salve Regina,” when Bishop Hogan quietly drew his last breath.

Roots

    Bishop Hogan’s life began under Mary’s protection, since his birthday, October 17, 1911, came in the month of her Holy Rosary. And it was in a church dedicated to Mary’s Immaculate Conception that he was baptized on October 29, 1911.
    Christened James John, he was the first child of James F. and Mary E. (Molloy) Hogan, who resided at 445 Cosgrove Street in Philadelphia. Shortly after his birth, the young family moved to a new home on Locust Avenue, still within the confines of Immaculate Conception Parish. The future Bishop would begin his elementary school education in the parish school, studying there for two years before the family moved to National Park NJ.
    Bishop Hogan was preceded in death by two brothers: William and John, and by three sisters: Dolores, Margaret and Elizabeth. Surviving is a sister, Jean Scott of Northfield NJ.
    Bishop Hogan is also survived by 24 nieces and nephews. His niece, Kathy Hogan, remembered him as “a wonderful uncle, and a great role model for every member of our family.
    “One thing in particular I will always remember about my uncle,” she said in a Wednesday, June 15 telephone interview. “He never talked down to us children,” she said. “He never talked baby - talk to us. My uncle always spoke to us with dignity and respect, and I always appreciated that.”
    The Hogan family became members of Saint Matthew Parish in National Park, then a mission of Saint Anne Parish in Westville. Because there were no Catholic schools in their new hometown, the Hogan children traveled daily to Camden to continue their Catholic education. Young James was an altar server at Saint Matthew Parish, and would be the first son of the parish to be ordained a priest.
    Following graduation from Camden Catholic High School in 1930, James began to pursue his vocation at Saint Charles College in Catonsville MD, continuing his studies in philosophy at Saint Mary Seminary and University in Baltimore. His abilities were recognized by Archbishop Moses E. Kiley, Bishop of Trenton, who decided seminarian Hogan should be sent to Rome to complete his education.

Priesthood

    In the Fall of 1934, James J. Hogan took up residence at the North American College in Rome, and enrolled as a student at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The protecting hand of the Blessed Virgin Mary was soon evident again, when he was ordained a priest on the feast of her Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1937, in the chapel of the North American College. The ordaining prelate was the college rector, Bishop Ralph L. Hayes, who later became Bishop of Davenport IA.
    When he celebrated the golden anniversary of his priesthood in 1987, Bishop Hogan recalled an audience, following ordination, with Pope Pius XI.
    “He told us, ‘For my part, I thank God daily that I was born in this day and age. I thank God that I have been able to play some small part in tipping the scales for God.’
    “That is my prayer too,” said Bishop Hogan, “that my offering has been found pleasing.”
    Following ordination, Father Hogan finished his studies at the Gregorian, receiving the licentiate degree in sacred theology.
    During his years in Rome, a division of his home Diocese took place, and the Diocese of Camden was formed. But because he had been sponsored by the Diocese of Trenton, it was to Trenton that Father Hogan returned in 1938, and was promptly assigned to take up, again, a student’s life, this time at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC.
    Father Hogan graduated from Catholic University in 1941, with a doctorate in canon law, and as the author of a published dissertation, Judicial Advocates And Procurators: An Historical Synopsis And Commentary, a study of the role of officials in diocesan tribunals.
    His studies at an end, Father Hogan was named assistant chancellor of the Diocese of Trenton by Bishop William A. Griffin, and assigned to pastoral ministry as assistant pastor at the Cathedral of Saint Mary.
    For the next 12 years, Father Hogan would continue in these positions. In 1948, Pope Pius XII named him a papal chamberlain.
    Monsignor Hogan became pastor of Saint Catharine Parish in Spring Lake NJ in 1953. At the same time, he was appointed chancellor of the Diocese of Trenton, Officialis, and Delegate for Religious. He was advanced to the distinction of domestic prelate in 1954, and in 1957 was named to the diocesan College of Consultors.

The Episcopacy

    Monsignor James J. Hogan was to reach the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. On December 2, 1959, Pope John XXIII announced that Monsignor Hogan was to be raised to the episcopate as titular Bishop of Philomelium, and auxiliary Bishop of Trenton, serving under the ordinary of the Diocese, Bishop George W. Ahr.
    Bishop Hogan was the first auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese, and received episcopal ordination on February 25, 1960 at Saint Mary Cathedral.
    When he celebrated the fortieth anniversary of that ordination on February 25, 2000, Bishop Hogan spoke of his sense of unease and unworthiness upon his appointment. But, he said, those fears and doubts were dispelled when Bishop Ahr “noticing my wonderment said ‘If it’s any consolation, I asked for you.’ I don’t know if at that time the Lord foresaw the Diocese of Altoona - Johnstown in my future, but coming out of the cathedral on the day of my consecration, it was snowing like mad, perhaps a foretaste of my life here!”
    As a member of the episcopacy, Bishop Hogan had to choose both a motto, and a coat of arms. For his motto he chose words from the 19th Psalm “Sacrificium meum pergratum fiat” - - “May my offering be acceptable.” His coat of arms would honor both his father’s family, incorporating the black and gold shield of the Hogans, with the red shamrocks symbolic of his mother’s family, the Molloys. A distinctive mark of Bishop Hogan’s coat of arms is a golden escallop shell, the symbol of his patronal name saint, James.

The Council

    Not only did Pope John XXIII shake up the life of the pastor of Saint Catharine Parish in Spring Lake when he named him a Bishop; he shook up the whole Church when he announced his intention to convene, at the Vatican, an Ecumenical Council. That Council, to be conducted in four sessions between 1962 and 1965 would shape the ministry of Bishop James J. Hogan.
    Bishop Hogan was among the newer members of the hierarchy gathered at Saint Peter’s Basilica on October 11, 1962. In his last interview with The Catholic Register on September 11, 2000, marking Pope John’s beatification, Bishop Hogan said that was the first - - and the last time - - he would see the beloved pontiff.
    Describing the Council’s opening day as “a madhouse,” Bishop Hogan recalled the impressive sight of Bishops from all over the world “gathering in miter and cope and processing together into Saint Peter’s.” At the end of the lengthy procession came the Holy Father.
    “You couldn’t help but get a good look at him,” said Bishop Hogan. “The man was as big as life.” But more than the Pope’s mere physical presence struck the attention of the young Bishop.
    “Pope John gave a magnificent opening address that day,” he said. “I remember being very impressed by it, as he set out his hopes for the Council and for the Church. I had to leave my little parish in Spring Lake to go to Rome for the Council, but the Pope’s speech made it well worth the trip.”
    According to Bishop Hogan “John XXIII’s council was pastoral, rather than dogmatic; an aggiornamento, an updating, an opening of windows.” But while many Bishops, like Bishop Hogan, were moved by the Holy Father’s words, a sense of sadness pervaded their thoughts as they left Rome.
    “I remember thinking ‘We won’t see him again,’” said Bishop Hogan, who was to be proved right the next June (1963) when Pope John died of cancer.
    As auxiliary Bishop of Trenton, Bishop Hogan attended all four sessions of Vatican Council II, and at the time of his death was one of only seven surviving Council Fathers in the episcopacy of the United States. His death came only two months after the death of another Council Father, a Polish prelate who attended the Council as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, and who died April 2, 2005 as Pope John Paul II. At the 2000 celebration of the 40th anniversary of his episcopal ordination, Bishop Hogan spoke of his admiration for the Holy Father.
    “In my mind, the next Pope to be called ‘the Great,’ will be Pope John Paul II,” Bishop Hogan conjectured. “Few Popes have drawn up such a record for the Church and for the world. God grant that his supreme pontificate will inaugurate both a new springtime of evangelization and a new culture of life.”
    His attendance at Vatican Council II, and his appreciation of the Council’s spirit, would mark Bishop Hogan’s next assignment.

Sixth Bishop
Of Altoona - Johnstown

    For so long identified with his adopted New Jersey, the Pennsylvania - born Bishop Hogan would be called to implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council in his native state, when on May 23, 1966, he was named sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Altoona - Johnstown by Pope Paul VI.
    The decree, issued in the name of “Paul, Bishop of Rome, Servant of the Servants of God,” to “Our Venerable Brother James J. Hogan, hitherto Titular Bishop of Philomelium and now transferred to the See of Altoona - Johnstown,” conveyed the Pope’s “Greetings and Apostolic Benediction,” and noted the Pope’s concern for “providing for the Christian people Bishops who, consumed with zeal for God’s greater glory, would fulfill the hope of the Church and who would faithfully provide everything necessary for the flock’s salvation.
    “With this in mind,” the solemn document continued, “wishing to make adequate provision for the Diocese of Altoona - Johnstown, made vacant by the transfer of Joseph Carroll McCormick to the See of Scranton, We have determined that you, Venerable Brother, could be appointed to the government and administration of that See with great benefit to its Clergy and Faithful, not only because of your sincere piety, but also owing to your prudence and experience.”
    In the end, Pope Paul wrote “There remains for us, Venerable Brother, to wish that you prosper as We implore for you and your flock every grace and blessing from Our Creator and Redeemer.”
    Bishop Hogan assumed governance of the Diocese on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 5, 1966 when he presented the papal brief naming him Ordinary of the Diocese to diocesan administrator Monsignor Thomas E. Madden and the College of Consultors. The low - key meeting was in stark contrast to the solemn ceremonies the next day at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona.
    At 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 6, 1966, Archbishop (later Cardinal) John J. Krol of Philadelphia presided at the Solemn Pontifical Mass celebrated by Bishop Hogan, at which he was formally installed as Bishop. Archbishop Krol and Monsignor Madden conducted Bishop Hogan to his episcopal throne (cathedra) where the Archbishop presented him with the crosier, symbol of his office as chief shepherd of the Diocese.
    Bishop Hogan delivered a sermon full of the spirit of Vatican Council II in which he said “the Council had no more significant moment than when it stressed, as it did in a chapter of the constitution on the Church, the universal call to holiness.”
    For the next 21 years, Bishop Hogan would dedicate his ministry to helping the people of the eight county Diocese respond to that call.
    (The full text of Bishop Hogan’s installation homily may be found on pages 5 and 6 of the print edition of this issue.)

A Working Bishop

    After taking formal possession of the Cathedral of Saint John Gualbert in Johnstown on Sunday, July 10, 1966, Bishop Hogan settled down to the work of a diocesan Bishop, a task that would occupy him for the next two decades.
    Author Matthew Bunson’s centennial history of the Diocese, How Beautiful Upon The Mountains (2001) stated “The pastoral thrust of Bishop Hogan’s first remarks was soon given expression in the life of the Diocese by the Bishop’s directives to continue the implementation of the decrees of the Second Vatican Council. . . . Bishop Hogan had the dual tasks of applying the decrees of the Council while preventing confusion or misinterpretation throughout the Diocese. He returned always to his pastoral orientation, using gentle and prayerful concern to spread the Gospel in the Alleghenies.”
    In response to the Council’s call for greater collegiality between Bishops and priests, Bishop Hogan established a Presbyteral Council. In a further attempt to improve diocesan administration, in 1972 the Bishop oversaw the transfer of the Chancery Office and other related offices from a site in downtown Altoona to the former Catholic Child Care Center in Hollidaysburg. The move seemed symbolic of other efforts to revitalize the pastoral life of the Diocese.
    In 1976, a Family Life Center was constructed on the campus of Mount Saint Ann in Ebensburg. 1981 marked the beginning of a renewed presence of the Saint Vincent DePaul Society in the Diocese. Mirroring the special outreach to youth of Pope John Paul II, Bishop Hogan became noted as a Bishop who was able to connect with young people, bridging the so - called “generation gap.” Said Bunson “He was particularly fond of celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation, visiting parish schools, and promoting Catholic organizations for young people. His genuine care for children made him a popular Bishop throughout the Diocese.”
    Bishop Hogan never sought popularity, but the warmth of his response to people in need served only to increase the esteem in which he was held. When Johnstown was devastated by a flood on July 20, 1977, there was a swift response from the Catholic community, with Bishop Hogan traveling as soon as possible to the stricken city to offer comfort and consolation. On the flood’s first anniversary he would return to the Cambria City neighborhood, scene of some of the greatest damage, to offer an open - air Mass to remember those who had lost their lives, and to offer thanks for all that had been accomplished in the task of rebuilding. One week after the flood, the Bishop issued a letter that spoke for all the Catholics of the area:
    “With the eyes of faith our stricken and bereaved brothers and sisters will find solace in the vision of Saint Paul. Having noted his multiple tribulations, and knowing the mind of Christ, he exclaimed: ‘For I fill up in my body for the Church those things wanting in the passion of Christ.’” Bishop Hogan wrote. He went on to liken the flood to “the paschal mystery - - not merely pondered in the abstract, but painfully experienced in the concrete. Thank God, His grace is and will be sufficient.
    “And to this end, never have I seen such an outpouring of prayerful solidarity . . . Valuable as prayer is for the grace of spiritual stamina, solidarity has not rested there. Rarely has there been such a massive demonstration of the faith in action - - religion pure and undefiled. Such love of neighbor must warm the heart of Jesus - - as it must be an enormous consolation to the afflicted . . . Countless messages, offers of food, clothing, medical supplies and financial assistance have been backed up by delivery. . . . A grateful community will not soon forget.”
    Nor did the grateful community forget the solicitude of its Bishop.

The Grandest Fraternity

    On May 20, 1967, Bishop Hogan ordained his first class of priests for the Diocese of Altoona - Johnstown. His last ordination, while serving as diocesan administrator, took place on May 16, 1987. In that 20 year period, Bishop Hogan ordained 89 diocesan priests, welcoming them to what he always described as “the grandest fraternity in the world.”
    From 1966 until 1979 Bishop Hogan was a frequent visitor at Saint Francis Seminary in Loretto, where many of the priests of the Diocese received their formation. It was as much a source of sadness to the Bishop, as it was to the Third Order Regular Franciscan Friars of the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, who sponsored the institution, when the seminary closed.
    It was during Bishop Hogan’s administration that the permanent diaconate, reinstituted in the Church’s life following the Second Vatican Council, was established in the Diocese. In 1985, Bishop Hogan ordained the Diocese’s first class of permanent deacons: Dr. Joseph Cassidy, John Concannon, William Cronin, Gene Neral and John Sroka.
    On the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood, celebrated at the Cathedral in Altoona on December 10, 1987, Bishop Hogan returned to another phrase he frequently employed when speaking of the sacerdotal ministry, as he reflected on his 50 years of priesthood.
    “The immolation of a man joined to the immolation of a God, to me is still the best definition of what a priest is,” he stated. Reminding the priests joining him for the celebration that they were to find their identity in an identification with Christ. The Eucharist, he told them, must be central to their lives.
    “The celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of what it means to be a priest,” said Bishop Hogan. “Here in the Eucharist is the heart of our ministry to the household of God.”

Religious Life

    “As a Franciscan friar, I was always well aware of his support of our religious life,” said Father Christian R. Oravec of the Sacred Heart Province of the Third Order Regular Franciscan Friars, in a statement issued at Bishop Hogan’s death. The Bishop’s concern for men and women in consecrated life was well known nationally, as well as on the local level.
    For several years in the early 1970s, Bishop Hogan was the chairman of the liaison committee between the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. In 1980, the Sacred Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes appointed Bishop Hogan the chairman of the Pontifical Commission for Contemplative Nuns in the United States.
    Bishop Hogan’s most lasting contribution to consecrated religious life on the national scene was his work as a founder of the Institute On Religious Life, in 1974. The Bishop was the Institute’s first president, and later served a second term as head of the organization formed to “affirm the vocation to consecrated life in accordance with the authentic teaching of the Church, and of the Holy Father; promote authentic religious/consecrated life as set forth by Vatican II and their implementation by the Holy See; and to encourage vocations to the religious, consecrated and priestly life.” Headquartered in Chicago, the Institute continues to pursue its goals, today.
    The Bishop was keen to promote an authentic renewal of religious life, in line with the teachings of Vatican II, in the Altoona - Johnstown Diocese.
    With his support, 14 members of the Sisters of Saint Ann separated themselves from that congregation in 1971 to form the Carmelite Community of the Word, for service in the Diocese. Although Bishop Hogan is not cited as the author of the statement, announcing the new community, it bears the stamp of his style:
    “The separation of the new community from the Religious Congregation has been effected in an exemplary and edifying spirit of charity on the part of all concerned. In a day which requires more than ever zealous dedication and apostolic effort on the part of souls consecrated to the service of God, all in the Diocese will gratefully wish both groups well and pray that they become even more fruitful instruments.”
    In 1974, Bishop Hogan presided at the reception of the new community’s first novice, Sister Karen Gruseck.
    When the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Loretto experienced a loss of members in the wake of Vatican II renewal, Bishop Hogan encouraged the remaining nuns to seek help from like - minded religious, and to rebuild their community. He gave permission for the Sisters, Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus to open a novitiate in the Diocese. Bishop Hogan welcomed the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, from Scotland, to the Diocese, when they opened a convent in Renovo in 1972. He was happy to note that his father had been educated by these Sisters. It was also with Bishop Hogan’s permission that the Little Sisters of Jesus established a Fraternity of Adoration in the Tunnelhill neighborhood of Gallitzin.
    A conscientious member of the Third Order of Carmel, Bishop Hogan was also affiliated to the Third Order Regular Franciscan Friars. The affiliation, arranged by the Immaculate Conception Province in Hollidaysburg, took place on the feast of Saint Francis, October 4, 1985.

Devoted To Mary

    Throughout his episcopacy, Bishop Hogan gave evidence of his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His presence at Rosary Rallies in Altoona and Johnstown, and at Marian Devotions at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Alleghenies in Loretto, were highlights of his annual calendar. In 1983, the Bishop heeded the call of Pope John Paul II and consecrated the Diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But it was the two massive pilgrimages to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC that gave the strongest witness to Bishop Hogan’s Marian devotion.
    On October 9, 1971, 6,000 pilgrims from the Altoona - Johnstown Diocese joined Bishop Hogan in a pilgrimage to pray for peace at Mary’s Shrine. On Saturday, September 13, 1986, some 5,000 pilgrims took part in the second diocesan pilgrimage to the National Shrine. At that time, these gatherings had the distinction of being the second and third largest pilgrimages in the history of the Shrine.
    Peace on earth was also the theme of the 1986 pilgrimage. In his homily, Bishop Hogan stated “As a priest and Bishop I can and must say this as a matter of pastoral duty: any weapon that can bring about massive destruction of non - combatant populations is a colossal evil and totally immoral.” Noting that the pilgrimage was being held only a few weeks prior to a day of prayer for peace at Assisi hosted by Pope John Paul II, Bishop Hogan said of the local pilgrims “in spirit we are with him. And what would delight Pope John Paul’s heart, in this grandest temple of the Americas, dedicated to our Blessed Lady, Queen of Peace, than to say ‘Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.’”

Retirement

    On October 17, 1986, his 75th birthday, Bishop Hogan became the first Bishop of Altoona - Johnstown to resign as ordinary of the Diocese. Just as his episcopacy had been shaped by the Second Vatican Council, so to was his resignation prompted by the directives of that Council, which mandated that Bishops retire from administrative duties at age 75. His had been the second longest tenure of any Bishop of the Diocese (Bishop Richard T. Guilfoyle had served longer) and he was the first former ordinary to be named administrator of the Diocese until the appointment of a successor.
    He joined the priests for a farewell Mass at Our Lady of Mercy Chapel at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson on January 9, 1987, and noted that his remarks there would be his first “and probably my last as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese.”
    Thanking the priest for their collaboration, Bishop Hogan said 65 priests died during his years in the Diocese. “There was not one of them, nor one of you I don’t consider to be a warm friend,” he said, adding “you will never be out of my prayers, and I hope that I will never be out of yours.”
    Looking ahead to retirement, Bishop Hogan said “ever since my ordination I’ve been stuck at a desk.” He pointed out that even when he served as a pastor in New Jersey, he still had to make a daily trip to the chancery office in Trenton, to serve at a desk job there. Bishop Hogan reiterated his plan, made at the time of the announcement of his resignation, to be of assistance to the parish priests. “If I can be of help to any of you good fathers at any time,” Bishop Hogan said, “that would be my idea of a good time.”
    On March 17, Bishop Hogan announced that Monsignor Joseph V. Adamec of Saginaw MI had been named to succeed him, and on the following May 20, he served as one of the ordaining Bishops at Bishop Adamec’s episcopal ordination. Vacating the episcopal residence in Sylvan Hills, he moved to the chaplain’s house next door to Garvey Manor, on the grounds of the Diocesan Administration Center in Hollidaysburg, and began fruitful years of ministry at the nursing home.
    And, making good on his promise to be of assistance in the parishes, Bishop Hogan served faithfully as a confessor at the Cathedral in Altoona, a duty he carried out until declining health made it necessary for him to take up residence in Garvey Manor. Leaving aside the duties of the chaplaincy, he continued to concelebrate the Eucharist in Saint Joseph Chapel there for as long as he was able.
    On Monday, June 20, his body was brought to that chapel for a private viewing by the many friends who shared the home with him. Later that afternoon his coffin was received at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, where it was placed in front of the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, just a few feet from the confessional where he brought words of healing and hope to so many, for so many years.
    The funeral Mass for Bishop James J. Hogan was celebrated at the Altoona Cathedral at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 22. His Eminence Justin, Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia was celebrant, and Bishop Joseph V. Adamec was homilist. Committal was in the Cathedral’s Crypt Chapel.
(This edition of The Catholic Register was going to press as Bishop Hogan’s funeral Mass was being celebrated. Full coverage of the funeral will be in our July 11 issue.)