Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan, retired auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Brooklyn, died on June 7 from injuries he sustained in a May 30 car accident. He was 83. Bishop Sullivan took a holistic approach to caring for the poor said those who worked with him, including in his leadership to strengthen health care in New York City and through his involvement with CHA and other national and international health care organizations.
Bishop Sullivan was "an old-school, strong, tough Irish bishop with a heart of gold who really cared a lot about the poor and underserved," said Adrian V. Kerrigan, senior vice president for advancement with the Catholic Medical Mission Board, the New York City-based charity focused on global health care. Bishop Sullivan was in his tenth year of service as a Catholic Medical Mission board member, and had served as its chair from 2008-2010. Bishop Sullivan saw access to quality health care as an integral part of helping the underserved. Whether someone needed food or mental health services, Bishop Sullivan saw the importance of helping a person meet their health needs in order for them to heal, feel well enough to be linked to other services they might need, and move forward in their lives, Kerrigan explained.
Bishop Sullivan grew up one of 11 children in a Brooklyn family. He was ordained as a priest for the diocese of Brooklyn in 1956 and earned a master's degree in social work from the Fordham School of Social Work in 1961 and a master's degree in public administration from New York University in 1971.
He began his work with Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens in 1959, and was its executive director from 1968 to 1979. Under his tenure, the agency became a nationally recognized provider of social services, said Diocese of Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas Di Marzio in a statement.
Bishop Sullivan was ordained auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn in 1980. He spoke out about the need for better care and services for those with HIV and AIDS in the 1980s.
Sr. Pat Talone, RSM, CHA's vice president for mission services, said Bishop Sullivan was a man of faith who had a rich interior life, and an appreciation of beauty. Those qualities helped him as he worked to correct societal ills, providing him with a vision for where improvements could be made.
He played football and baseball in his youth including a stint in minor league baseball and he enjoyed golfing, theater, read voraciously and had quite an Irish tenor singing voice, she recalled.
Bishop Sullivan served on the CHA Board of Trustees beginning in 1984, and was board chair for the 1991 fiscal year, followed by a year as speaker of the assembly. From 2000 to 2008, he was episcopal liaison to CHA from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The episcopal liaison's charge is to strengthen the relationship between the organizations by bringing the perspective of the bishops as a conference to CHA.
Among many other involvements, Bishop Sullivan joined Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy health system's board in 1991 and served until his death. He chaired the Mercy board from 2004 to 2007.
Bishop Sullivan is survived by three sisters, three brothers and extended family. His funeral Mass was held June 12 at the Church of St. Ephrem in Brooklyn with burial at St. John's Cemetery in Middle Village, N.Y.