Cleric was head of archdiocese Catholic schools

William Clifford Newman, a Baltimore native who served for nearly 20 years as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, died Saturday in hospice care at Mercy Ridge Retirement Community in Timonium, the archdiocese said. He was 88.

Bishop Newman was an auxiliary bishop for Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties from 1984 until his retirement in 2003. Before he was ordained a bishop, he served as the archdiocese’s superintendent of schools and as secretary of education.

Archbishop William E. Lori said in a statement that Bishop Newman “will long be remembered for his kind demeanor and his humble and generous service to the faithful of this, his home Archdiocese, for so many years.”

“I had the blessing of visiting with and anointing Bishop Newman shortly before his death and found him to be the same ever-faithful, joyful, and gentle man he always was,” Lori said.

He served as assistant pastor at St. Elizabeth Church in Baltimore from 1954 to 1962 and as principal of St. Paul’s Latin High School from 1962 to 1967.

Bishop Newman served as superintendent of the archdiocese’s schools from 1967 to 1976 and as secretary of education from 1972 to 1974. In that position, he directed all forms of Christian education within the archdiocese.

He returned to parish work in 1976 with appointments as pastor of SS. Philip and James in Baltimore and as rector of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. He was ordained a bishop in 1984.