Cardinal Keeler, who led Baltimore Archdiocese, 86
CATONSVILLE, Md. — Cardinal William Keeler, who helped ease tensions between Catholics and Jews and headed the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the U.S. for 18 years, died Thursday. He was 86.
Archbishop William Lori announced in a statement that Cardinal Keeler died at St. Martin’s Home for the Aged in Catonsville. No cause of death was released.
He retired in 2007 as the head of the archdiocese of Baltimore.
He devoted much of his clerical life to improving ties with other denominations, especially Jews. From 1992 to 1995, he was president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He also served as moderator for Catholic/ Jewish Relations and was a member of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
In a 1993 interview with The Associated Press, he said he developed his strong ecumenical bent while attending summer camp as a boy with Protestants and Jews. The experience, Keeler said, offered him, “many opportunities to work with people from other churches and to engage in a kind of informal dialogue with them, to see their goodness and their interest in things that were good.”
He was a priest for 37 years and served as an expert adviser to Pope John XXIII at the reforming Second Vatican Council of 1962-65.
He took over the Baltimore Archdiocese in 1989 after serving as bishop of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was elevated to cardinal on Nov. 26, 1994.
There will be a public viewing of Keeler tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore. Vespers will be conducted at 7 p.m.
On Tuesday, there will be a public viewing from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. The Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 2 p.m.
The Rite of Committal will take place at 4 p.m. in the crypt of Basilica of the National Shrine.