Arthur Kennedy (bishop)


Arthur Leo Kennedy is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, from 2010 to 2017. After retirement he took up residence in St. Mary's Church in Dedham.

Biography

Early life and education

Arthur Leo Kennedy was born on January 9, 1942 in Boston and is one of six children of the late Arthur and Helen Kennedy. He has four brothers and one sister. He is the uncle of four nieces and four nephews.
Kennedy attended Longfellow Elementary School in Boston’s Roslindale section and St. Aidan Grammar
School in Brookline, Massachusetts before entering the Boston Latin School of which he is an alumnus of the class
of 1959. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Saint John's Seminary College in 1963. Kennedy then attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy.

Ordination, education and ministry

Kennedy and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston on December 17, 1966 in St. Peter’s Basilica by the then rector of the Pontifical North American College, Bishop Francis Reh. He obtained a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1967. He earned his doctorate in Systematic Theology/Philosophy of Religion in 1978 from Boston College where he was also a teaching assistant.
A native of the Archdiocese of Boston, Bishop Kennedy was ordained to the priesthood in December 1966. He served at St. Monica Parish in Methuen from 1967-1969 and St. Joseph Parish in East Boston from 1969-1974.
For nearly 33 years Bishop Kennedy served in various positions at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. While at the University of St. Thomas he also served at Holy Trinity Church in South Saint Paul from 1974-1982 and at the Church of the Assumption in St. Paul from 1982-2000. In addition to serving as a faculty member at the university, he was also on the faculty of the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity and was Director of the Master of Arts in Theology program.
From 2002-2005, amidst his assignment as university professor, Kennedy served as executive director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C.. He served as the Rector of Saint John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts from July 2007 until July 2012.

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston

On June 14, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Kennedy auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston. His consecration was September 14, 2010 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He chose as his episcopal motto: Ut cognoscant te, meaning, "so that they may know you." This phrase from Saint John's Gospel expresses the profound directive of all Christian educators, that in their role they pledge themselves to teach, for Christ.
Bishop Kennedy was named Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston by Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley on Jan. 18, 2012. In this role Bishop Kennedy develops, oversees and promotes programs for awakening and strengthening the Catholic Faith in the Archdiocese of Boston, including the Theological Initiative for the New Evangelization.

Episcopal succession