Edward Peter Cullen
Encyclopedia
Edward Peter Cullen is an American
prelate
of the Roman Catholic Church
. He was the third Bishop of Allentown
. His resignation was accepted on 27 May 2009 by Pope Benedict. http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23924.php?index=23924&lang=en. At the same time, Pope Benedict named Msgr. John Barres
as the fourth Bishop of the diocese.
family, Edward Cullen was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, to Edward Peter and Julia Catherine (née Leahy) Cullen. He was raised in Yeadon
, along with his older sister, Joan, and three younger brothers, Joseph, John, and James. Cullen attended West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys
, where he excelled at football
and track and was involved in the school newspaper
, and worked as a cashier
at an Acme supermarket
.
Following his graduation from West Catholic, he studied engineering
at the Drexel Institute of Technology
. In 1953, he entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
in Overbrook, from where he obtained Bachelor of Arts
degree
in 1958.
to the priesthood
by Archbishop John Krol in the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. He then served as an assistant pastor
at St. Maria Goretti Church in Hatfield
and at St. Bartholomew Church in Philadelphia.
Cullen was sent by Archbishop Krol to study social work
at the University of Pennsylvania
, later earning his Master of Social Work
degree in 1970. This was followed by a Master of Religious Education
from La Salle University
(1971) and Master of Divinity
from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary (1974). From 1979 to 1993, he served as a chaplain
at St. Edmond's Home for Children in Bryn Mawr
.
Cullen was raised to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness
in April 1982, and served as director of Catholic Social Services from 1983 to 1988. In August 1988, he was named vicar general
of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
.
of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop
of Paria in Proconsolare by Pope John Paul II
. The event was con-celebrated by the notorious Father DePaoli, a man with thousands of dollars worth of illegal pictures of children. Cullen received his episcopal consecration
on the following April 14 from Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, with Archbishops John Foley
and Francis Schulte
serving as co-consecrators
. He selected as his episcopal motto
: "Christ, Church, Compassion".
on December 16, 1997. Replacing the retiring Thomas Welsh
, he was formally installed
on February 9, 1998. In 2003, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America
.
In 2008, Cullen initiated a program which would restructure many parishes in the Diocese. As part of this program, 47 parishes were closed, this reduced the number parishes from 151 to 104.
In April 2009, Cullen described the University of Notre Dame
's decision to have President
Barack Obama
to deliver its commencement speech and receive an honorary degree
as "disappointing" and "not in harmony" with the directive of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
against honoring pro-choice
politician
s.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. He was the third Bishop of Allentown
Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill, in the United States. Its cathedral is the Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
. His resignation was accepted on 27 May 2009 by Pope Benedict. http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23924.php?index=23924&lang=en. At the same time, Pope Benedict named Msgr. John Barres
John Barres
John Oliver Barres is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Bishop of Allentown, Pennsylvania.-Early life and education:...
as the fourth Bishop of the diocese.
Early life
The second of six children in an Irish CatholicIrish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
family, Edward Cullen was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, to Edward Peter and Julia Catherine (née Leahy) Cullen. He was raised in Yeadon
Yeadon, Pennsylvania
Yeadon is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders the City of Philadelphia. The population was 11,762 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Yeadon is located at ....
, along with his older sister, Joan, and three younger brothers, Joseph, John, and James. Cullen attended West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys
West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys
West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys open it doors in 1916 and was located on 49th between Chestnut and Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, where he excelled at football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and track and was involved in the school newspaper
Student newspaper
A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
, and worked as a cashier
Cashier
Cashier is an occupation focused on the handling of cash money.- Retail :In a shop, a cashier is a person who scans the goods through a machine called a cash register that the consumer wishes to purchase at the retail store. After all of the goods have been scanned, the cashier then collects...
at an Acme supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
.
Following his graduation from West Catholic, he studied engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at the Drexel Institute of Technology
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
. In 1953, he entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary is the seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Named for Charles Borromeo, it is located in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania,...
in Overbrook, from where he obtained Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in 1958.
Priesthood
On May 19, 1962, Cullen was ordainedHoly Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
to the priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
by Archbishop John Krol in the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. He then served as an assistant pastor
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at St. Maria Goretti Church in Hatfield
Hatfield, Pennsylvania
Hatfield is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,290 at the time of the 2010 census.-Geography:Hatfield is located at ....
and at St. Bartholomew Church in Philadelphia.
Cullen was sent by Archbishop Krol to study social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, later earning his Master of Social Work
Master of Social Work
The Master of Social Work is a master's degree in social workand especiality of sociology.- United States :In the United States, MSW degrees must be received from a graduate school that has been approved by the Council on Social Work Education...
degree in 1970. This was followed by a Master of Religious Education
Master of Religious Education
The Master of Religious Education is a terminal academic degree in preparation for professional teaching ministry, usually offered by Christian institutions. The curriculum includes two years of theological study and sometimes a thesis....
from La Salle University
La Salle University
La Salle University is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the school was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As of 2008 the school has approximately 7,554...
(1971) and Master of Divinity
Master of Divinity
In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...
from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary (1974). From 1979 to 1993, he served as a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
at St. Edmond's Home for Children in Bryn Mawr
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
.
Cullen was raised to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
in April 1982, and served as director of Catholic Social Services from 1983 to 1988. In August 1988, he was named vicar general
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well as Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties. The diocese was...
.
Episcopal career
On February 8, 1994, Cullen was appointed Auxiliary BishopAuxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop
Titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Paria in Proconsolare by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. The event was con-celebrated by the notorious Father DePaoli, a man with thousands of dollars worth of illegal pictures of children. Cullen received his episcopal consecration
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
on the following April 14 from Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, with Archbishops John Foley
John Patrick Foley
John Patrick Foley is an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. From 2007 until 2011, he was Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, having previously served as President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications from 1984 to 2007. He was...
and Francis Schulte
Francis B. Schulte
Francis Bible Schulte is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston from 1985 to 1988, and Archbishop of New Orleans from 1989 to 2001.-Biography:...
serving as co-consecrators
Consecrator
Consecrator is a term used in the Roman Catholic Church to designate a bishop who ordains a priest to the episcopal state. The term is often used in Eastern Rite Churches and in Anglican communities. The term "Principal Consecrator" is used to designate the primary bishop who ordains a new bishop...
. He selected as his episcopal motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
: "Christ, Church, Compassion".
Bishop of Allentown
Cullen was later named Bishop of AllentownRoman Catholic Diocese of Allentown
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill, in the United States. Its cathedral is the Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
on December 16, 1997. Replacing the retiring Thomas Welsh
Thomas Jerome Welsh
Thomas Jerome Welsh was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Arlington and as Bishop of Allentown .-Early life and education:...
, he was formally installed
Enthronement
An enthronement is a ceremony of inauguration, involving a person—usually a monarch or religious leader—being formally seated for the first time upon their throne. This ritual is generally distinguished from a coronation because there is no crown or other regalia that is physically...
on February 9, 1998. In 2003, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America
Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America
As of May 2010, the Board of Trustees at The Catholic University of America was composed of:*Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus*Richard D. Banziger, B.A. 1981, Managing Director, Salomon Smith Barney...
.
In 2008, Cullen initiated a program which would restructure many parishes in the Diocese. As part of this program, 47 parishes were closed, this reduced the number parishes from 151 to 104.
In April 2009, Cullen described the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
's decision to have President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to deliver its commencement speech and receive an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
as "disappointing" and "not in harmony" with the directive of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic...
against honoring pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s.