Edwin Frederick O'Brien

Edwin O'Brien was born in 1939 in the Bronx, New York, to Edwin Frederick, Sr. and Mary Winifred O'Brien.[1] One of three children, he had two brothers, Ken and Tom, now deceased. He graduated from Our Lady of Solace School in 1953 and attended St. Mary's High School in Katonah from 1953 to 1957. He entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers in 1959, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts (1961), Master of Divinity (1964), and Master of Arts (1965) degrees.[1]

O'Brien was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Francis Spellman on May 29, 1965.[2] He served as a civilian chaplain at the United States Military Academy at West Point until 1970, when he became an army chaplain with the rank of Captain.[1] He also took flight training that required him to parachute out of airplanes.[3] O'Brien was a chaplain at Fort Bragg in North Carolina with the 82nd Division (1970–71) and in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (1971–72).[4] While in Vietnam, he was based in the jungle and flew with a Protestant minister by helicopter to minister to soldiers.[1] From 1972 to 1973, he was a post chaplain at Fort Gordon in Georgia.

In 1973, O'Brien was sent by Cardinal Terence Cooke to study in Rome at the Pontifical North American College. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum from which he earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1976 with a dissertation entitled The Origin and Development of Moral Principles in the Theology of Paul Ramsey.[1] Upon his return to the United States, he served as both the vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York and associate pastor at St. Patrick Cathedral from 1976 to 1981.[1] O'Brien coordinated Pope John Paul II's visit to New York in 1979 and was the archdiocesan Director of Communications from 1981 to 1983.[1] Between 1983 and 1985, he served as private secretary to Cardinal Cooke and then to his successor, Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor.[1]

O'Brien was raised to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness in 1986.[1] He served as rector of St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers from 1985 to 1989, and of the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 1990 to 1994. Returning to New York, he served another term as rector of St. Joseph's from 1994 to 1997.[4]

On February 6, 1996, O'Brien was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of New York and Titular Bishop of Thizica by John Paul II.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on the following March 25 from Cardinal O'Connor, with Bishops Patrick Sheridan and John Nolan serving as co-consecrators, at St. Patrick's Cathedral.[2] He selected as his episcopal motto: Pastores Dabo Vobis, meaning, "I will give you shepherds" (Jeremiah 3:15).[1]

Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

Cardinal Grand Master O'Brien, Pilgrimage OESSH in Rome 2013

On August 17, 2011, after Cardinal John Patrick Foley had reached retirement age, Cardinal Bertone asked O'Brien during a visit to Rome to take the position of Pro-Grand Master. O'Brien accepted the next day[20] and was appointed on August 29, 2011.[21]

Pope Benedict XVI elevated O'Brien to cardinal along with 21 others on February 18, 2012. O'Brien was created Cardinal-Deacon of San Sebastiano al Palatino, the same titular church held by previous Grand Master, Cardinal Foley. O'Brien was named Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem on March 15, 2012.[22][23]

On April 21, 2012, O'Brien was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.[24] He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.[25]

O'Brien ceased as an elector when he reached 80 in 2019. Later that year, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Grand Master on December 8.[26]

As Archbishop of Baltimore, O'Brien was an outspoken critic of the religious institute the Legion of Christ,[31][32][33] criticizing its alleged practice of "blind allegiance",[31] lack of "respect for human dignity for each of its members",[32] and "heavily persuasive methods on young people, especially high schoolers, regarding vocations."[34]

In June 2008, O'Brien called for greater "transparency and accountability" from the Legionaries and its lay arm Regnum Christi to include consecrated and non-consecrated members.[31] The Vatican dissuaded him from expelling the Legionaries from his archdiocese and held discussions with the institute's superior general, Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río. He directed both groups to disclose all activities within the Archdiocese and directed them to refrain from spiritual direction of anyone under eighteen years of age. The Archbishop's antipathy to Regnum Christi as a lay movement and the increasing reports of scandalous behavior by its founder led to decreasing enrollment and then the closure of the Legion's Woodmont Academy.[35]

In February 2009, when the superiors of the Legionaries acknowledged that their founder, Marcial Maciel, had engaged in "inappropriate" behavior (including drug and sexual abuse as well as fathering a child[36])[37] O'Brien said that the institute must offer "full disclosure of [Maciel's] activities and those who are complicit in them, or knew of them, and of those who are still refusing to offer disclosure," adding that the institute's finances should also be subject to "objective scrutiny."[33] He called Maciel "a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends.".[32] He welcomed the Vatican's decision in March 2009 to conduct an apostolic visitation of the Legionaries and said that the institute's abolition "should be on the table."[33][lower-alpha 1]

O'Brien has been an outspoken proponent of the Just war theory. Sometimes called the "Warrior Cardinal", he is seen as a controversial figure and is considered to have given moral justifications for the US military intervention in Iraq,[40][41] which had terrible consequences on the Christianity in Iraq with its almost annihilation ten years later under a Shiite regime allied with Teheran.[42][43] Early 2003, O'Brien preached to the soldiers at West Point at Mass: "I know that a lot of people have said that the Pope is against war with Iraq ... But even if he did, you are not bound by conscience to obey his opinion. However, you are bound in conscience to obey the orders of your Commander-in-Chief, and if he orders you to go to war, it is your duty to go to war".[44]

On March 25, 2003, a few days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, in a letter to US Catholic military chaplains, O'Brien wrote: "Given the complexity of factors involved, many of which understandably remain confidential, it is altogether appropriate for members of our armed forces to presume the integrity of our [military] leadership and its judgments, and therefore to carry out their military duties in good conscience ... It is to be hoped that all factors which have led to our intervention will eventually be made public, and ... will shed helpful light upon our President's decision".[45] He did not endorse the war or the motivations behind it. Supporters of the war in Iraqi cited his positions.[46] He was criticized by opponents of the war for distancing himself from the position of the Holy See[47][48][49] and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.[50]

His spiritual direction proved effective in calming the doubts of soldiers, advising them that they can safely leave the responsibility for moral decision-making to the Government.[51] O'Brien believes that chaplains play an essential role in helping soldiers perform their fighting duties with a clear conscience,[52] and in easing relationships with local populations and to avoid such gross misconduct as the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.[53] O'Brien has complained that too few Catholics priests are serving in active duty, being replaced by chaplains of other faiths because the military disregards the significance of denominational affiliation.[54] He consistently rejected discussion with Catholic groups that asked chaplains "to call on all Catholic soldiers to leave Iraq.[55]

In July 2009, at the U.S. Strategic Command Deterrence Symposium, O'Brien explained Just War theories, saying "The moral end we seek ought to shape the means we use", that the U.S. must "move beyond nuclear deterrence as rapidly as possible" and urging the world leaders to "stay focused on the destination of a nuclear-weapons-free world and on the concrete steps that lead there."[56][57] In September 2013, when President Barack Obama was considering the use of military force in Syria, O'Brien said that "whatever we do will contribute to peace in that part of the world",[58] contradicting the views of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Syria.[59]

• Chaplain Corps (United States Army)
• List of Catholic bishops of the United States: military service
• Military chaplain
• Religious symbolism in the United States military
• United States military chaplains

• "O'Brien Card. Edwin Frederick". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
• Archdiocese of Baltimore
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services
• Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, official website
• Archdiocese for the Military Services of the United States. GCatholic.org. Retrieved 2010-08-20.

Academic offices
Preceded by Lawrence M. Purcell	Rector of the Pontifical North American College 1990–1994	Succeeded by Timothy M. Dolan
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by John Patrick Foley	Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem 2011 - 2019	Succeeded by Fernando Filoni
Preceded by William Henry Keeler	Archbishop of Baltimore 2007–2011	Succeeded by William E. Lori
Preceded by Joseph Thomas Dimino	Archbishop for the Military Services 1997 – 2007	Succeeded by Timothy Broglio
Preceded by -	Auxiliary Bishop of New York 1996 – 1997	Succeeded by -
Preceded by Alfonso Nava Carreón Bishop of Tizica	Titular Archbishop of Thizica 1996 – 1998	Succeeded by Louis Dicaire Bishop of Thizica