James A. Hickey, 84; Ex-Archbishop of Washington

The Most Rev. James A. Hickey, former archbishop of Washington, who led the Roman Catholic Church in the nation’s capital for two decades, died Sunday. He was 84.

One of 13 Americans in the College of Cardinals, Hickey led the Archdiocese of Washington from 1980 to 2000. He died in a Washington nursing home after his health had slowly deteriorated over the last year, said Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

Born Oct. 11, 1920, in Midland, Mich., Hickey was ordained a priest in 1946 and an archbishop in 1980.

On his selection as cardinal in 1988, Hickey expressed humility and appreciation to the pope.

“In the years remaining for me, I shall strive to be a caring pastor, a faithful teacher, a loving father and brother and a true servant of the people of God in the District of Columbia and the five counties of Maryland,” Hickey said at the time.

“I am truly honored, very humbled and deeply grateful that our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has chosen me to serve as a cardinal of the church.”

Hickey came to Washington with a reputation as an activist priest.

He became a crucial figure in dealing with the government on issues affecting the church in Central America.

In 1980, Hickey attended the tumultuous funeral of his friend, Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose assassination precipitated a 12-year civil war.

Later that year, two female missionaries who had been under his jurisdiction as bishop of Cleveland were killed in El Salvador. He was a passenger in the van in which they were slain.

President Reagan’s secretary of State, Alexander Haig, said the van was trying to run a roadblock when troops of El Salvador’s right-wing government shot the women.

A 1993 U.N. report on human rights abuses by that earlier Salvadoran government called Haig’s statement “totally outrageous.”

Hickey began his activist career ministering to immigrants in the Saginaw, Mich., area, said his longtime secretary, Msgr. Kevin T. Hart. “He will be remembered for his work with the poor,” Hart said.

Hickey lobbied for increased spending to aid the poor, tried to persuade Congress to stop giving aid to the Nicaraguan Contras in the 1980s and pushed for bishops to take strong stands in favor of nuclear disarmament and against increased military spending.

Often described as a conservative on church issues despite his social activism, Hickey expressed compassion when a priest in his archdiocese died of AIDS in 1987.

Hickey said he encouraged the Rev. Michael R. Peterson to disclose his illness because he wanted to demonstrate that compassion for AIDS patients was as much a part of church teaching as its rejection of homosexual relations.