(LifeSiteNews) –– Bishop Emeritus Edward Slattery of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a leader who bolstered Catholic charity in his community while standing up to secular forces in national politics, passed away Friday evening at his home, following a series of debilitating strokes. He was 84.
Treasures of the Church director Fr. Carlos Martins announced the bishop’s passing Saturday morning on Facebook, explaining that over the past month, Slattery experienced “numerous” strokes, the last of which left him “without a sense of his identity” a week ago. However, he “remained faithful to his prayer routine until his final moments,” and “from the onset of their coming, he offered all his suffering in reparation for injustices committed against Our Lady.”
Hailing from Chicago, Slattery was consecrated as a bishop by the late Pope John Paul II, where Martinis says he “governed with a focused and loving heart” and “left the diocese well-organized and well-disposed with her gifts.”
The Associated Press’s obituary focuses on Slattery’s 1995 reinstatement of a priest accused of sexual abuse who a decade later was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy, which Slattery said he felt “terrible” about. But the AP goes on to acknowledge his diocese’s implementation of “training and other abuse prevention programs,” and credit him with overseeing an “expansion of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma and creation of a new campus for the charity in north Tulsa as well as creation of a tuition assistance fund for Catholic families.”
As covered by LifeSiteNews over the years, Slattery was also outspoken about the intersection of politics and Catholic principles. In 2015, he withdrew the Diocese of Tulsa out of a partnership with the Oklahoma Center for Community & Justice when the latter sponsored an LGBT “pride” parade, telling those angry about the move simply, “I’m the bishop, and I have to be the bishop.”
The AP notes that in 2009, Slattery spoke out against ostensibly-Catholic University of Notre Dame’s decision to not only invite pro-abortion former President Barack Obama to give a commencement speech, but honor him with an honorary doctorate.
In 2018, two years after his retirement as bishop, Slattery called for a “thorough and complete investigation” into testimony by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò implicating Pope Francis and several other senior prelates in covering for decades of sexual abuse by disgraced Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.
“There is no other way” to deal with the papacy potentially becoming a source of “mistrust, division and scandal” than to have the church “fearlessly identify the corruption within, and by prayer and penance root it out,” he said at the time.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Bishop Edward Slattery, Bishop Emeritus of Tulsa,” said Archbishop Peter B. Wells, Apostolic Nuncio, in a statement released by the Diocese of Tulsa. “I give thanks to God for his many years of faithful service as a priest and Bishop, especially his two decades of dedication to the Diocese of Tulsa. Bishop Slattery will be fondly remembered for his many initiatives in the Diocese, his compassion for the poor, and his profound spiritual guidance. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all those mourning his loss, particularly his family, Bishop David Konderla, the clergy, religious, and faithful of the Diocese of Tulsa. May he rest in Peace.”
Bishop Slattery is survived by five siblings. Funeral services begin Thursday, September 26.