Harry Anselm Clinch

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]

References

1. Curtis, Georgina Pell (1961). The American Catholic Who's Who. XIV. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.
2. Weber, Francis J. (1979). California Catholicity.
3. "Bishop Harry Anselm Clinch". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
4. "History of Sacred Heart Church". History of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
5. 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.