Harry Anselm Clinch

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Harry Anselm Clinch (October 27, 1908 – March 8, 2003) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Monterey in California from 1967 to 1982.

Early life and education[]

Harry Clinch was born in San Anselmo, California, to Henry Joseph and Mary E. (née McLoughlin) Clinch.[1] In 1915, he moved with his family to Fresno, where he attended John Muir Elementary School and Fresno High School (1924–25).[2] In 1925, he was accepted by Bishop John MacGinley as a seminarian for the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno.[2] He entered St. Benedict's Seminary in Atchison, Kansas, with a grant from the Students Endowment Fund established by the Catholic Church Extension Society.[2] He attended St. Joseph's College in Mountain View from 1928 to 1930, and St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park from 1930 to 1936.[1]

Priesthood[]

Clinch was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Philip Scher on June 6, 1936.[3] He was diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1936 to 1948.[2] In 1937, he founded and became director of Santa Teresita Camp, the diocesan summer camp for children.[1] He also served as diocesan director of the Catholic Youth Organization (1939–40), a chaplain at St. Agnes Hospital (1942–46), and dean of Kern and Inyo Counties.[2]

From 1941 to 1948, Clinch was editor of the diocesan newspaper, Central California Register.[1] He received his first assignment as a pastor in 1946, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Clovis, where he remained for two years.[1] In 1948, he became the founding pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Fresno.[4] At Sacred Heart, he constructed a church and established a parochial school.[4]

Clinch was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Church in Taft in 1948.[1] He was elevated by Pope Pius XII to the rank of domestic prelate in October 1952.[1] In 1958, he was assigned to the Carmel Mission Basilica in Carmel-by-the-Sea.[5]

Episcopacy[]

On December 5, 1956, Clinch was appointed auxiliary bishop of Monterey-Fresno and titular bishop of Badiae by Pope Pius XII.[3] He received his episcopal consecration on February 27, 1957, from Bishop Aloysius Willinger, with Bishops Timothy Manning and Merlin Guilfoyle serving as co-consecrators.[3] He was the thirteenth native Californian to become a Catholic bishop.[2] As an auxiliary bishop, he continued to serve at the Carmel Mission Basilica.[5] He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965.[5]

Following the split of the Diocese of Monterey from the Diocese of Fresno, Clinch was named Bishop of Monterey by Pope Paul VI on October 16, 1967.[3] During his 14-year tenure, he implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, ordained 22 priests, and established five new parishes.[5] In May 1969, he succeeded Cardinal John Wright as episcopal adviser to the National Catholic Laymen's Retreat Conference.[6]

Later life and death[]

Clinch resigned as Bishop of Monterey on January 19, 1982.[3] He sold his house in Pebble Beach and donated the proceeds to establish the Bishop Harry A. Clinch Endowment Fund.[5] He then spent his retirement at a retirement community in Santa Cruz, where he later died at age 94.[5] At the time of his death, he was believed to be the oldest Catholic bishop in and last surviving participant of the Second Vatican Council in the United States.[5]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Curtis, Georgina Pell (1961). The American Catholic Who's Who. Vol. XIV. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Weber, Francis J. (1979). California Catholicity.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Bishop Harry Anselm Clinch". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.[self-published source]
  4. ^ a b "History of Sacred Heart Church". History of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Beck, David L. (2003-03-12). "BISHOP HARRY CLINCH, 94, LAUNCHED VATICAN REFORMS". San Jose Mercury News.
  6. ^ "Coast Bishop Named Adviser". The New York Times. 1969-05-26.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Monterey in California
1967—1982 		Succeeded by
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