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John
Carroll
Leonard Neale
Ambrose Maréchal
James Whitfield
Samuel Eccleston
Francis Kenrick
Martin Spalding
James Bayley
James Gibbons
Michael Curley
Francis Keough
Lawrence Shehan
William Borders
Current Shepherd:
Cardinal Keeler
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Archbishops of
Baltimore
William D.
Borders (1974-1989)
William Donald Borders was born Oct. 9, 1913, in
Washington, Indiana, and attended parochial elementary and high
schools there. He began his studies for the priesthood in 1932 at St.
Meinrad Seminary in his native state, but in 1936 transferred to Notre
Dame Seminary in New Orleans in response to an appeal from Archbishop
Joseph Rummel of that city. He was ordained by Archbishop Rummel in
New' Orleans' St. Louis Cathedral on May 18, 1940.
His first priestly assignment was as associate pastor at Sacred
Heart Parish in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1943 he enlisted in the
U.S. Army Chaplain Corps and served with the 91st Infantry Division in
Africa and Italy. He left the military service in 1946 with the rank
of major. Not long after, he enrolled at the University of Notre Dame
in South Bend, Indiana, where he obtained a Master of Science degree
in education in 1947.
In 1964, he became rector of St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. In the Baton Rouge diocese he served as diocesan director
of the Councils of Catholic Men and Women, director of seminarians, a
diocesan consultor, and founder of the minor seminary.
On May 2, 1968, Pope Paul named him the first Bishop of Orlando,
and he was ordained to the episcopate on June 14, entering his new
diocese three days later.
In Orlando, Bishop Borders acted vigorously to implement the
directives of the Second Vatican Council, with particular emphasis on
those having to do with collegiality or shared responsibility. Under
his guidance, diocesan and parish councils, boards of education, and
similar commissions were established, and he created a Social Services
Board to correlate the work of already existing agencies. He developed
a comprehensive educational program aimed at coordinating efforts in
Catholic Schools, the campus ministry apostolate, and religious
education at all levels. Multiservice centers for the poor and for
migrant workers were set up at various places in the diocese.
His transfer to Baltimore in 1974 heightened his efforts to govern
and serve in a truly collegial manner. He divided the Archdiocese into
three vicariates and appointed his three auxiliary Bishops as vicars
over them, with delegated authority to act in his name in most
matters. He reorganized the Archdiocesan Central Services, naming
cabinet level Secretaries to carry out the administrative work of the
Archdiocese and thus free him for more pastoral concerns. He clarified
and strengthened the role of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. He
combined the old Board of Consultors and the more recent Senate of
Priests into a newly formed priests Council to advise him on priestly
and pastoral matters.
He also initiated a Department of Pastoral Planning and Management
looking to the future needs of the Archdiocese, an Office of Fund
Development to carry out an effective stewardship program, and a
vigorous evangelization effort to reach the unchurched of the
Archdiocese.
| He published his teachings in a book,
Spiritual Living in Secular Society, for leaders and
people in the pews as they face the moral challenges of the
Third Millennium.
Archbishop Borders submitted his resignation to Pope John
Paul II on his 75th birthday. It was accepted some months later,
and on April 6, 1989, he was succeeded by Most Reverend William
H. Keeler. |
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