Most Reverend James A. Duffy

[Reprinted from The Nebraska Register Friday, Feb. 16, 1968, Vol. 44, No. 8.]

Bishop James Albert Duffy, first Ordinary of the Diocese of Grand Island (originally Kearney), died in St. Joseph's infirmary in Hot Springs, Ark., Monday evening, Feb. 12.

At the time of his death, Bishop Duffy was the senior Bishop in the United States in both age and years of consecration.

Bishop Duffy, 94, is the second of the former Bishops of Grand Island to have died recently. Bishop Stanislaus V. Bona of Green Bay, Wis., the second Bishop of Grand Island, died Dec. 2, 1967. Bishop Duffy was one of a very few remaining Bishops in the entire world who had been appointed by the late Pope St. Pius X.

Funeral services for Bishop Duffy will be conducted in St. Mary's Cathedral in Grand Island Tuesday morning, Feb. 20, at 11 a.m.

Archbishop Gerald Bergan of Omaha, Archbishop Edward Hunkeler of Kansas City in Kansas, Bishop John L. Paschang of Grand Island, Bishop Glennon Flavin of Lincoln, and Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Sheehan of Omaha will concelebrate the Funeral Mass.

Burial will be in Calvary cemetery in Grand Island.

Bishop Duffy was born in St. Paul, Min., April 13, 1873, to James and Joanna (Shiely) Duffy. He received his education at St. Thomas college and St. Paul seminary, both in St. Paul.

He was ordained to the priesthood may 27, 1899. Following his ordination he served as assistant at Immaculate Conception parish in Minneapolis from 1899 to 1902, when he was made pastor of St. Anne's church, LeSueur, Minn.

He resigned as pastor of St. Anne's in 1904 for reasons of health and came to Wyoming, where he was named pastor of St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne and Chancellor of the Cheyenne diocese.

In 1913 he was named the first Bishop of the Diocese of Kearney, Neb. (which had been established in 1912). He was consecrated in St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne, April 16, 1913.

Archbishop J. J. Keane of Dubuque, Iowa, was the consecrator, assisted by Bishop Patrick McGovern of Cheyenne and Bishop Richard Scannell of Omaha as co-consecrators. Bishop Austin Dowling of Des Moines preached the sermon at the consecration.

In 1917 the seat of the diocese was transferred to Grand Island. During the years that Bishop Duffy served as head of the diocese, the beautiful St. Mary's Cathedral was built (1926-28) and consecrated by Cardinal Patrick Hayes of New York.

It was under Bishop Duffy that the Nebraska Register (now The West Nebraska Register) was established as the second of the diocesan editions of the Register system.

In May of 1931, ill health brought about the resignation of Bishop Duffy. The Holy Father named him Titular Bishop of Silando.

He continued to serve as Administrator of the diocese until the installation of the second Bishop of Grand Island, Bishop Stanislaus Bona, in March, 1932. Bishop Duffy then retired to St. Joseph's infirmary in Hot Springs, Ark., where he served as chaplain until 1964.