Religion
Edward Mooney
1882–1958 · first Archbishop of Detroit, cardinal
First Archbishop of Detroit (1937–1958) and a cardinal from 1946, who reined in radio priest Charles Coughlin and led the church through the city's wartime boom.
- Born
Mount Savage, Maryland- Died
Rome, Italy
aged 76- Birth name
- Edward Aloysius Mooney
- Also known as
- Cardinal Mooney
- Detroit years
- 1937–1958
- Field
- Religion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Edward Mooney, a Maryland-born priest raised in Ohio, had served as a Vatican diplomat in India and Japan and as bishop of Rochester when Pope Pius XI named him the first archbishop of Detroit on May 31, 1937, as the diocese was raised to an archdiocese. Mooney arrived with a reputation for Catholic social teaching and sympathy for organized labor, which mattered in a city where the UAW was just winning recognition. He moved quickly to limit the political broadcasts of Father Charles Coughlin, the Royal Oak radio priest, and made the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament his cathedral in 1938. During and after World War II he opened parishes and schools for Detroit's booming population, reaching far into the growing suburbs of Oakland County. Pope Pius XII made him a cardinal in 1946. He died in Rome in October 1958, hours before the conclave that elected John XXIII; since 1988 he has rested in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.
Highlights
- Named first Archbishop of Detroit on May 31, 1937
- Created a cardinal by Pope Pius XII on February 18, 1946
- Curbed Father Charles Coughlin's political broadcasts
- Died in Rome in 1958 just before the papal conclave
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1938–1958
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament
The Woodward Avenue church he designated as Detroit's cathedral in 1938 and served from as archbishop.
Buried here · 1988–
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
The archdiocese's cemetery in Southfield, where his remains were moved in 1988.