Services, prayer set for Bishop Malone

Bishop James W. Malone, who led the Youngstown diocese during an era when Second Vatican Council reforms were implemented and the Roman Catholic Church reached out to other faiths, died Sunday (4-9-00). He was 80.

A reception of the body will be held at 10 a.m. with calling hours until 7 p.m. Thursday (4-13-00) in St. Columba Cathedral, 154 W. Wood St., Youngstown. Evening prayer is set for 7:30. On Friday (4-14-00) prayer will be held at 9:30 a.m. in the cathedral, with calling hours continuing until noon. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 2 p.m.

Those wishing to pay respects are urged by the diocese to attend the Thursday evening or Friday morning prayer services due to expected crowds.

Doctors recently found cancer cells in Malone’s bladder and he had been in St. Elizabeth Health Center since March 17. He underwent two surgeries, including the removal of his spleen. Malone died about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. The cause of death was not available Monday, said Nancy Yuhasz, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

Malone’s kidney had been removed in 1999, and he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1972 but was declared cured five years later.

He was bishop of the six-county diocese of 260,000 Catholics for 17 years. He retired in 1995. Malone was a leading spokesman for the church in the United States from 1983-86, when he was president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was the first prelate below the rank of cardinal or archbishop to hold the position.

While he served as conference president, American bishops reiterated their support for Vatican council reforms and issued a pastoral letter on the economy that stressed a commitment to work on behalf of the poor.

Malone, appointed bishop at the age of 40, attended the 1962-65 council and backed its initiatives, including use of the vernacular language in the Mass and increased roles for the laity.

The council promoted contacts with other faiths and Malone, who attributed his interest in ecumenism to growing up in a diverse Youngs-town neighborhood, played a prominent role in interfaith programs.

He was co-chair of a national Catholic-Methodist dialogue group and, as president of the Ohio Council of Churches, urged Catholic dioceses to join the mostly Protestant organization. Malone, the son of a steel worker, earned college tuition money for a year by working in a steel mill. As bishop, he led an interfaith effort in response to the loss of 20,000 steel jobs in the region in the 1970s.

Malone was born and raised in Youngstown. He became a bishop in 1960, administrator of the diocese in 1966 and diocesan bishop in 1968. Surviving is a brother, Frank Malone of Boardman, Ohio.

The funeral Mass will be televised beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Ecumenical Television Channel through the Catholic Television Network of Youngstown.

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