Bishop Daniel A. Hart; Pastor at Heart LED Conn. Diocese, by Bryan Marquard, Boston Globe, January 22, 2008

Bishop Daniel A. Hart; Pastor at Heart LED Conn. Diocese

By Bryan Marquard
Boston Globe
January 22, 2008

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/01/16/bishop_daniel_a_hart_pastor_at_heart_led_conn_diocese/

The mystery of faith spoke to Bishop Daniel A. Hart when he was a child trying to decide whether he was hearing a call to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

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"I was fascinated with the ministry of the priests, particularly during Mass, the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ," he told The Day, a newspaper in New London, Conn., in 2002. "I remember watching carefully and watching for that. It was a very compelling kind of experience."

Though he was trained as an administrator and spent most of the years after his ordination as vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston, auxiliary bishop, regional bishop, and bishop of the diocese in Norwich, Conn., he remained devoted to parish ministry. In retirement, Bishop Hart bowed out of his family's holiday gatherings in New England and traveled to Tupelo, Miss., where he spent Christmas and New Year's Day attending to a church that did not have a priest.

Bishop Daniel Hart, talking to parishioners in Norwich, Conn.

Bishop Hart, who served in the Boston Archdiocese from 1953 until he became bishop of Norwich in 1995, died Monday in St. Joseph Living Center in Windham, Conn. He was 80 and had been suffering from cancer the past six months, the Norwich Diocese said.

"I think he was always a pastoral person," said his brother Leo of Windham, N.H. "His goal was to do what helped the people."

When Bishop Hart reached 75, the retirement age for bishops, he submitted his letter of resignation and stepped down as leader of the Norwich Diocese. He was succeeded in 2003 by Bishop Michael R. Cote.

"The two words that keep coming to mind as I think of Bishop Hart are kindness and service," Cote said in a statement issued by the diocese. "This was Bishop Hart. This was his nature. Bishop Hart lived these words. It was always amazing to me to witness his incredible attention to the sick and those in need. He had the true heart of a pastor."

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley issued a statement yesterday saying the Boston Archdiocese was saddened to hear of Bishop Hart's death.

"In retirement, Bishop Hart remained active in the Diocese of Norwich, continuing to be a sign of God's love to the people there," O'Malley said. "His ministry was truly a gift to the church. We pray that God grant Bishop Hart eternal peace."

Daniel Anthony Hart, the third of seven sons, was born in Lawrence, where he graduated from Central Catholic.

"He was very quiet growing up, and he was always interested in the church," Dr. William Hart of Hampstead, N.H., said of his brother. "He did fairly well in school, but he studied like a son-of-a-gun. He always had his homework done, much to the irritation of his younger brother."

Bishop Hart graduated from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in business administration, received a master's degree in divinity from St. John's Seminary, and a master's in education from Boston State College, where he majored in pastoral counseling.

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Ordained by Cardinal Richard Cushing, Bishop Hart was an associate pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption in Lynnfield, St. Paul Church in Wellesley, and Sacred Hearts Church in Malden.

In 1964, he was appointed vice chancellor of the Boston Archdiocese. In that post and subsequent leadership roles as auxiliary bishop of Boston, regional bishop (south) in the archdiocese, and bishop of Norwich, his work became the subject of lawsuits in the past several years as the clergy sexual abuse scandal unfolded.

Mitchell Garabedian, who represented many victims of clergy abuse, said Bishop Hart was a defendant in 10 lawsuits contending there had been negligent supervision of priests in his role as vice chancellor or regional bishop. Garabedian said all the lawsuits were settled with the archdiocese.

The Day reported that in 2002, a judge dismissed claims made in a lawsuit that Bishop Hart knowingly allowed a diocesan priest to sexually abuse a teenage boy. Also in 2002, the newspaper reported, he said: "I join with my brother bishops in apologizing for the hurt inflicted on all victim-survivors of sexual abuse by priests and bishops. I am saddened by this, and I ask forgiveness."

As a young priest, Bishop Hart had chosen the motto, "Do not be afraid," and he told The Day in 1996: "There are a lot of things we could be frightened about today, socially, nationally. But if we just let Jesus into our lives, we have nothing to fear."

Among the things he did not fear was stepping down from an administrative post when he was rising through the ranks of the Boston Archdiocese. After six years as vice chancellor, he became associate pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Peabody.

"It was my own choice to move," he told the Globe in 1976 when he was elevated to auxiliary bishop. "I enjoy parish work very much."

The parishioners enjoyed him, too. "I can't think of anybody who deserves the honor more," Maureen Battano, who had worked with Bishop Hart on the parish council at St. John in Peabody, told the Globe in 1976. "He's just a warm, serene, humble man. He makes it easy to understand that Christ was and always will be a living person."

Bishop Hart was just as well received by other priests and had served as president of the Priests' Senate in the archdiocese.

"He could always find a little bit of humor in whatever he was doing," the Rev. Donald A. Dwyer told the Globe in 1976. "One of his favorite expressions is 'Holy Daddy.' He was one of the best companions living in a rectory. I don't think you can get by without a little of that humor."

A reception of the body Mass will be said at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich. Bishop Hart will lie in state from 3 to 7 p.m. tomorrow and after the Mass until midnight and again from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday. A funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Friday in the cathedral.