Cornelius Michael Power (December 18, 1913 – May 22, 1997) was an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He served as archbishop of the

Archdiocese of Portland The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (''Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia'') is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western Oregon in the United States. Established in 1846, it was the second Catholic archdiocese establi ...

in Oregon from 1974 to 1986. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Yakima in Washington State from 1969 until 1974.

Biography

Early life

Cornelius Power was born on December `8, 1913, to Irish

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

William and Katherine (Kate) (née Dougherty) Power in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. He had five siblings. After receiving a public education in the Beacon Hill section of Seattle from 1919 to 1923, Power attended St. Mary Parochial School. Power started in 1927 at

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Roman Catholicism, Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill, Seattle, First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the sch ...

in Seattle. In 1928, after a year at O'Dea, Power entered St. Joseph College in Mountain View,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He then went in 1933 to Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California. In 1935, he entered

Saint Edward Seminary Saint Edward Seminary (sometimes Saint Edward's Seminary) was an institution for developing Catholic priests in the US state of Washington. Dedicated to Saint Edward the Confessor and located in Kenmore, it operated for 46 years before closing ...

Kenmore, Washington Kenmore is a city in King County, Washington, United States, along the northernmost shore of Lake Washington. It is a suburban commuter town at the mouth of the Sammamish River, northeast of downtown Seattle and west of Bothell. The populat ...

, finishing his preparation for the priesthood in 1939.

Priesthood

Power was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood for the Diocese of Seattle by Bishop

Gerald Shaughnessy Gerald Shaughnessy, (May 19, 1887 – May 18, 1950) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, Diocese of Seattle in Washington State from 1933 until his death in ...

on June 3, 1939. After his ordination, Power served as assistant

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

at St. James Cathedral Parish. He travelled to

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 1940 to study

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

. Power returned to Seattle in 1943 to be appointed

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Holy Names Academy Holy Names Academy is a Catholic private all-girls college-preparatory high school, founded by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in 1880 and located on the east slope of Seattle's Capitol Hill. It is the oldest continually operati ...

in that city. He was transferred in 1953 to be chaplain of St. James Cathedral. In 1955, Power left St. James to serve as administrator of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Seattle, rising to become its pastor in 1956. He remained at Our Lady of the Lake for the next thirteen years, whilst concurrently holding several positions in the

archdiocesan In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

. Power was promoted to the rank of

domestic prelate of his holiness A Prelate of Honour of His Holiness is a Catholic prelate to whom the Pope has granted this title of honour. They are addressed as Monsignor (typically abbreviated 'Mgr') and have certain privileges as regards clerical clothing.

on January 12, 1963.

Bishop of Yakima

On February 5, 1969, Power was appointed the second bishop of the Diocese of Yakima by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

on May 1, 1969, from Archbishop Thomas Connolly, with Bishops Thomas Gill and

Joseph Dougherty Joseph Dougherty is an American television producer, writer, and director. He has written for such television series as ''Thirtysomething'', for which he won an Emmy Award and a Humanitas Prize. Dougherty has also written for ''Judging Amy'' ...

serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

. Power assumed as his episcopal

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

: ''Servite Domino In Laetitia'', meaning, "I will serve God cheerfully."

Archbishop of Portland

Paul VI appointed Power as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland on January 15, 1974; he was installed on April 17, 1974, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. During his tenure in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, Power formed a five-year plan for the archdiocese and created an

endowment fund A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are ...

. Power founded the Oregon Catholic Conference and held the first clergy and archdiocesan conventions. He reorganized the local curia,

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spir ...

, and reestablished ''Catholic Truth Society of Oregon'' as the ''

Oregon Catholic Press Oregon Catholic Press (OCP, originally the Catholic Truth Society of Oregon) is a publisher of Catholic liturgical music based in Portland, Oregon. It published the newspapers '' Catholic Sentinel'' and ''El Centinela''; both papers have been di ...

''. He also encouraged ministries to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

-speaking and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n residents.

Retirement and legacy

Pope Paul II accepted Power's resignation as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland on July 1, 1986; he spent his retirement in providing

retreats The meaning of a spiritual retreat can be different for different religious communities. Spiritual retreats are an integral part of many Buddhist, Christian and Sufi communities. There are many different types of spiritual retreats such as welln ...

and assistance to

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

. Cornelius Power died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in Portland on May 22, 1997, at age 83. He is buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery.

References

External links

Archdiocese of Portland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Cornelius Michael 1913 births 1997 deaths Clergy from Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle American Roman Catholic clergy of Irish descent 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Roman Catholic archbishops of Portland in Oregon Roman Catholic bishops of Yakima Catholics from Oregon Clergy from Oregon Catholic University of America alumni Burials at Mount Calvary Cemetery (Portland, Oregon)