Eugene Antonio Marino, SSJ (May 29, 1934 – November 12, 2000) was an

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prelate who served as Archbishop of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

from 1988 until 1990, becoming the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

archbishop in history. He was also the first such auxiliary bishop in Washington, D.C. and the first to be secretary of the

National Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

. During his time as archbishop of Atlanta, he helped address the conduct of other priests, until his own relationship with a lay minister became public knowledge. He soon resigned, later working as a chaplain and counselor until his death in 2000.

Biography

Early life and education

Marino was born in

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

, the sixth of a total of eight children to

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and Puerto Rican Jesús María Marino and Lottie Irene Bradford Marino, an

maid. He attended parochial schools in Biloxi before joining the Josephites. He attended

Epiphany Apostolic College Epiphany Apostolic College, formerly known as the Josephite Collegiate Seminary, was a Catholic minor seminary founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1889 by John R. Slattery for the Mill Hill Missionaries, a UK-based society of apostolic life. A ...

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and later earned his master's degree from St. Joseph's Seminary in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

. He also completed a master's degree in religious education at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

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. He was ordained a priest in 1962.

Priesthood

After ordination, Marino taught religion and

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at Epiphany College in

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for seven years. He was the spiritual director at St. Joseph's Seminary in Washington, D.C. from 1968 until 1971, when he became

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop ...

of the Josephites.

Episcopacy

From September 12, 1974 until 1988 he was an auxiliary bishop for the Washington archdiocese, the first of four African Americans to hold this position, as well as becoming the secretary of the

in 1985, the first African American to hold that position. In 1987 he organized a trip for a number of African American Catholics to see

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, and during a talk with these men and women, he stated: Marino went on to become the first African American archbishop in American history when he was installed as Archbishop of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

on May 5, 1988, becoming involved in efforts to address the sexual misconduct of priests.

Sexual misconduct

Marino, however, was himself engaged in an affair with a female lay minister during this period, which became public knowledge in 1990. The lay minister, Vicki Long, revealed that she had been secretly married to Marino in 1988. Following these events, after just two years as archbishop of Atlanta, Marino, who had been in seclusion since June 1, 1990, resigned on 10 July 1990 and cited "spiritual renewal, psychological therapy and medical supervision" as the reason. He then took a six-week-long period of counseling. Retaining his title of archbishop, Marino quietly went to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

and took a post as chaplain at the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

in Alma up until 1995. From then until 2000, he worked in a counseling program at St. Vincent's Hospital Westchester in

Harrison, New York Harrison is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, northeast of Manhattan. The population was 28,218 at the 2020 census. History Harrison was established in 1696 by a patent granted by the British government to John Harrison ...

, counseling on sexual behavior and substance abuse.

Death

In the early morning hours of November 12, 2000, while ministering at Salesian High School in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state o ...

as a counselor and confidant for the personal problems of fellow priests and nuns, Marino died at age 66 at the St. Ignatius Retreat House in

Manhasset, New York Manhasset is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 at the 2020 United States ce ...

. He was discovered in bed by the housekeeper and it was established that he had died of a heart attack. He was buried in

. Of his eight siblings, one brother and four sisters survived him.''Eugene Marino, 1st Black Catholic Archbishop, Dies Of Heart Attack In Atlanta''
Obituary
December 4, 2000. Retrieved on April 3, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marino, Eugene Antonio 1934 births 2000 deaths People from Biloxi, Mississippi 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Loyola University Chicago alumni Fordham University alumni American people of Puerto Rican descent Burials in Mississippi Roman Catholic archbishops of Atlanta Catholics from Mississippi African-American Roman Catholic archbishops Josephite bishops Epiphany Apostolic College St. Joseph's Seminary (Washington, DC) Afro-Latino culture in the United States Latin American people of African descent Puerto Rican people of African-American descent Puerto Rican people of African descent African-American Catholic consecrated religious