For the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about the first two bishops of Brooklyn on the occasion of the return of their mortal remains to the diocese. The third bishop’s coffin to be interred in Douglaston on Aug. 3 belonged to the third Bishop of Brooklyn, Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy.
He was born in Nashua, N.H., and attended St. Anselm’s College, Manchester, N.H., before finishing at St. Francis College of Brooklyn. He then decided to study for the priesthood for the Diocese of Brooklyn and was accepted into St. John’s Seminary, Brooklyn, before being sent to North American College in Rome for his theological training. He was ordained in Rome on Sept. 19, 1908.
He was assigned to Queen of All Saints parish, Fort Greene, and later became secretary to Auxiliary Bishop George Mundelein. When Bishop Mundelein was named archbishop of Chicago, he accompanied the prelate to Illinois.
After only a few months, he was recalled to Brooklyn and assigned to St. Joseph’s College for Women, where he served as spiritual director, professor of philosophy, and eventually president.
In 1920, at the age of 34, he was named an auxiliary bishop, becoming one of the youngest members of the American hierarchy. The following year, after the death of Bishop McDonnell, he became Bishop of Brooklyn and served for the next 35 years.
In 1951, he received the rare personal honor from Pope Pius XII when he was named an archbishop ad personam in light of his long and distinguished career as the bishop of Brooklyn. Normally, the title of archbishop is reserved only those who have ecclesiastical authority over an archdiocese. He declined any public or formal recognition of the honor but he travelled to Rome to personally thank His Holiness.
Archbishop Molloy presided over a time of great growth for the Brooklyn Diocese. The number of diocesan priests rose from 495 to more than 1,000 during his tenure. Parishes increased from 249 to 330. Eighteen Catholic high schools were opened. The number of Catholics rose from 821,000 to more than 1.3 million.
Archbishop Molloy suffered a stroke and an attack of pneumonia on Nov. 15, 1956 and 11 days later succumbed to his ailments in his Brooklyn residence. He lied in state at St. Joseph’s Church, Pacific St., where the funeral also was celebrated. He was buried in the crypt at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, another institution he had founded.
Archbishop Molloy’s name lives on in the co-ed high school named in his honor in Briarwood, Queens.
The successor to Archbishop Molloy – Bishop Bryan J. McEntegart – wasn’t appointed until April 16, 1957. On that same day, Bishop Walter Kellenberg was named the first Bishop of Rockville Centre that was carved out of the Brooklyn Diocese, making Brooklyn the only all-urban diocese in the world.
After a 60-year absence, Archbishop Molloy is now back in the Brooklyn Diocese.
The bishops’ crypt is located in the lower level of Immaculate Conception Center, beneath the main chapel that is the center of the building. Bishops Loughlin, McDonnell and Archbishop Molloy now rest besides their successors, Archbishop McEntegart (the first burial in Douglaston) and Bishop Francis J. Mugavero.
Also entombed there are Auxiliary Bishops John J. Boardman, Charles R. Mulrooney, Joseph P. Denning, and Ignatius A. Catanello. The one non-bishop there is Msgr. John J. Fleming, the first rector of the Douglaston campus of Cathedral College, who died in February, 1970.