{{Short description|American prelate}} {{for|American football player|Jim Sweeney (American football, born 1962)}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific-prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend | name = James Joseph Sweeney | honorific-suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | title = Bishop of Honolulu | image = Bishop James Joseph Sweeney.jpg | image_size = 230 | alt = | caption = | religion = Christianity | archdiocese = | province = | metropolis = | diocese = | see = | elected = | appointed = May 20, 1941 | term = 1941–1968 | term_start = | quashed = | term_end = March 6, 1968 | predecessor = Stephen Alencastre | opposed = | successor = John Joseph Scanlan | other_post = Titular Bishop of Vicus Aterii <!---------- Orders The Orders section may be omitted in favour of Template:Ordination for those clergy claiming Apostolic succession, such as Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans. ---------->| ordination = 24 June 1925 | ordained_by = | consecration = July 25, 1941 | consecrated_by = John Joseph Mitty | created_cardinal_by = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|06|19|mf=y}} | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1968|06|20|1898|06|19|mf=y}} | death_place = San Francisco | buried = Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma | previous_post = | education = | motto = ''Ad Jesum per Mariam''<br>(To Jesus through Mary) | coat_of_arms = }} {{Infobox bishopstyles | name= James Joseph Sweeney | dipstyle= *His Excellency *The Most Reverend | offstyle=Your Excellency | relstyle=Bishop | image = Coat of arms of James Joseph Sweeney.svg | image_size = 200px }}

'''James Joseph Sweeney''' (June 19, 1898 &ndash; June 19, 1968) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of Honolulu in Hawaii from 1941 until his death in 1968.

==Biography==

=== Early life === James Sweeney was born on June 19, 1898, in San Francisco, California, to John Joseph and Catherine (née McCarrick) Sweeney. He received his early education at St. James Boys School in San Francisco from 1907 to 1913. After deciding to become a priest, Sweeney entered Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park.<ref name="curtis">{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=Georgina Pell |title=The American Catholic Who's Who |publisher=Walter Romig |year=1961 |volume=XIV |location=Grosse Pointe, Michigan}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Bishop James Joseph Sweeney [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsweeney.html |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref>

=== Priesthood === Sweeney was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on June 24, 1925, by Archbishop Edward Hanna at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco.<ref name=":0" />

Sweeney served as assistant pastor in the archdiocese until 1931, when he was appointed the archdiocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1941-05-20 |title=MGR. SWEENEY NAMED BISHOP OF HONOLULU; San Franciscan Is First Ordinary in New Diocese (Published 1941) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/20/archives/mgr-sweeney-named-bishop-of-honolulu-san-franciscan-is-first.html |access-date=2025-08-16 |language=en}}</ref> In 1929, Pope Pius XI conferred the title of monsignor on Sweeney.<ref name="curtis" />

=== Bishop of Honolulu === On May 20, 1941, Sweeney was appointed the titular bishop of Vicus Aterii and the first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Honolulu by Pope Pius XII. He was consecrated at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption on July 25, 1941, by Archbishop John Joseph Mitty.<ref name=":0" /> During World War II, Sweeney performed confirmation on 400 soldiers stationed in Hawaii. He also organized a Crusade of Prayer in which the children of the diocese prayed for the safety of an individual serviceman.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Diocese of Honolulu: 75 years: Earlier bishops |url=https://hawaiicatholicherald.com/2016/09/08/diocese-of-honolulu-75-years-earlier-bishops/ |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=hawaiicatholicherald.com}}</ref>

Sweeney established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) in the diocese to provide religious instruction to Catholic children attending public schools. In 1946, Sweeney opened the St. Stephen Seminary, a minor seminary in Kailua, Hawaii. During his tenure as bishop, Sweeney opened 21 new parishes and increased the enrollment in Catholic schools to over 22,000 students.<ref name=":1" />

=== Death and legacy === Sweeney died on his 70th birthday on June 19, 1968, in San Francisco.<ref name=":0" /> His funeral liturgy was held at his home parish of Saint Paul in San Francisco. At his request, he was buried with his parents in a family crypt in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{S-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{Succession box | before= Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands| title=Bishop of Honolulu | years=1941&ndash;1968 | after=John Joseph Scanlan}} {{S-end}} {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu|state=collapsed}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, James Joseph}} Category:1898 births Category:1968 deaths Category:Catholics from California Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Honolulu Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council Category:Chefs from San Francisco Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Category:20th-century American people