{{Short description|American clergyman}} {{Infobox Christian leader | honorific-prefix = His Excellency | name = John L. May | honorific-suffix = | archbishop_of = Archbishop of St. Louis | image = John L. May.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = | province = | diocese = | see = St. Louis | appointed = January 24, 1980 | enthroned =March 25, 1980 | ended = December 9, 1992 | predecessor = John Carberry | successor = Justin Francis Rigali | ordination = May 3, 1947 | ordained_by = Samuel Stritch | consecration = August 24, 1967 | consecrated_by = John Cody | other_post = | previous_post = {{unbulleted list|Bishop of Mobile (1969–1980)|Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago (1967–1969)}} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|3|31}} | birth_place = Evanston, Illinois | death_date = {{death date and age|1994|3|24|1922|3|31}} | death_place = St. Louis, Missouri | buried = | nationality = | religion = Roman Catholic Church | residence = | parents = | alma_mater = | signature = }} '''John Lawrence May''' (March 31, 1922 – March 24, 1994) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 1980 to 1992. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1967 to 1969, and as Bishop of Mobile from 1969 to 1980.
==Early life and education== John May was born on March 31, 1922, in Evanston, Illinois, to Peter Michael and Catherine (née Allare) May.<ref name=mobile>{{cite news|work=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile |title=The History of the Archdiocese of Mobile |url=http://www.mobilevocations.com/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214032048/http://www.mobilevocations.com/history.html |archive-date=2009-12-14 }}</ref> He received his early education at the parochial school of St. Nicholas Church in Evanston, and attended Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, graduating in 1940.<ref name=mobile/> His theological studies were made at St. Mary of Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. where he earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology.<ref name=archstl>{{cite news|work=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis|title=1946–1994: The St. Louis Church in the Modern World|url=http://www.archstl.org/archives/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=213&Itemid=1|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414082128/http://www.archstl.org/archives/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=213&Itemid=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-04-14}}</ref> May was of Luxembourgian ancestry.<ref>"De L'Etat à la nation. 1839–1939" Imprimeries St. Paul p. 147</ref>
==Priesthood== On May 3, 1947, May was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Chicago at St. Mary of the Lake by Cardinal Samuel Stritch<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Archbishop John Lawrence May [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmay.html |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref> After his 1947 ordination, the archdiocese assigned him as a curate at St. Gregory Church in Chicago. In 1956, he was transferred to Mercy Hospital in Chicago as a chaplain.<ref name=mobile/>
In 1959, the Catholic Church Extension Society named May as their vice-president and general secretary; he was named as its president in 1967.<ref name="archstl" /> He also taught at St. Gregory the Great High School in Chicago and Loyola University Chicago, and served on the archdiocesan marriage tribunal.<ref name="archstl" />
==Episcopacy==
===Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago=== On June 16, 1967, May was appointed auxiliary bishop of Chicago and titular bishop of ''Tagarbala'' by Pope Paul VI.<ref name=":0" /> He received his episcopal consecration on August 24, 1967, from Cardinal John Cody, with Bishops Cletus F. O'Donnell and Aloysius Wycislo serving as co-consecrators, at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to his episcopal duties, May served as pastor of Christ the King Parish in Chicago.<ref name=mobile/>
===Bishop of Mobile=== Following the resignation of Bishop Thomas Toolen, May was appointed as bishop of Mobile on September 29, 1969, by Paul VI.<ref name=":0" /> May's installation took place on December 10, 1969, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile<ref name=mobile/> During his 10-year tenure in Mobile, May established eight parishes and two deaneries, dedicated 12 churches, founded two schools, and erected a convent.<ref name=mobile/> He also dedicated several parish centers, homes for the elderly and a new wing and intensive-care unit at Providence Hospital in Mobile.<ref name=mobile/>
May continued to implement the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, authorizing the distribution of the eucharist by the laity, the hand reception of the eucharist by congregants and a new rite for the sacrament of penance.<ref name=mobile/> He founded an Office of Youth Ministry, a diocesan pastoral council, and a diocesan board of Catholic education. He also established a retirement program for all lay church employees, a new health insurance program, a marriage preparation program, and anti-abortion programs. In 1977, May imposed a term limit of six years in a parish for priests in the diocese.<ref name=mobile/> He ordained the diocese's first class of permanent deacons in 1979.<ref name=mobile/>
===Archbishop of St. Louis=== On January 24, 1980, May was appointed as the sixth archbishop of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II.<ref name="hierarchy">{{cite news |title=Archbishop John Lawrence May |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmay.html |work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org}}{{Self-published source|date=April 2015}}</ref> He was installed at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis on March 25, 1980.<ref name=mobile/>
During his 12-year tenure in St. Louis, May encouraged dialogue between Catholics and other Christians. He ordained Reverend J. Terry Steib as the first African-American auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese.<ref name="archstl" /> May also appointed the archdiocese's first chief financial officer and the first female superintendent of Catholic schools.<ref name="archstl" /> As in Mobile, he started a self-insurance program in the archdiocese and improved the retirement program for lay employees.<ref name="archstl" />
An advocate for the poor and homeless, May greatly expanded the programs of the diocesan branch of Catholic Charities, and initiated a program designed to directly assist pregnant.<ref name="archstl" /> He served as president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1986 to 1989. Due to a decline in the number of seminarians, May was forced to consolidate the archdiocesan seminary system. In 1987, he merged Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary to form Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.<ref name="archstl" /> In 1990, with Sister Mary Ann Eckhoff and St. Louis businessman Robert A. Brooks, May co-founded the archdiocese's Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Educational foundation boosts city parish school enrollment|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=July 28, 2010|author=Lenz, Sara Sonne|url=http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/educational-foundation-boosts-city-parish-school-enrollment/article_8b377c8a-8b1d-5b2b-8fb6-2c6da9417b99.html|access-date=July 21, 2014}}</ref>
==Retirement and death== In July 1992, May was diagnosed with brain cancer.<ref name="archstl" /> For this reason, he resigned as archbishop of St. Louis on December 9, 1992.<ref name=":0" /> He died in 1994 at a St. Louis nursing home, at age 71.<ref name="archstl" /> He was buried in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title=Bishop of Mobile | before=Thomas Joseph Toolen | after=Oscar Hugh Lipscomb | years=1969–1980}} {{succession box | title=Archbishop of Saint Louis | before=John Carberry | after=Justin Francis Rigali | years=1980–1992}} {{s-end}}
{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis}} {{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile}} {{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, John L.}} Category:1922 births Category:1994 deaths Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of St. Louis Category:Burials at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Category:People from Evanston, Illinois Category:Clergy from St. Louis Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Mobile Category:University of Saint Mary of the Lake alumni Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Missouri Category:Catholics from Illinois Category:Presidents of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Category:20th-century American people