BISHOP WHO LOVED BASEBALL AND AFRICA

It isn’t often that one finds a future saint from their own Alma Mater. While he was educated by the Jesuits, in high school and at University, he entered another Order.

SERVANT OF GOD VINCENT JOSEPH McCAULEY, was born in  1906 in Council Bluffs, Iowa (right across the great Missouri River, from Omaha, where Creighten University is).

He was the eldest of six children. His father was a wire chief for American Telephone & Telegraph in Omaha, Nebraska and a  member of the Knights of Columbus, and his mother was active in the altar guild and various prayer circles. These groups later assisted Father McCauley during his missionary efforts during troubled periods of the Great Depression and World War II.

Vincent attended Creighton Preparatory School, where he excelled in sports, especially baseball. He even played semi-professional baseball in Omaha to earn extra money. He graduated in 1924 and entered at Creighton University's College of Arts and Letters as part of the class of 1928. His time at Creighton was cut short when members of the Congregation of Holy Cross gave a parish mission at St. Francis Xavier in the fall of 1924. Like many young Catholics, Vincent was "enamored by the mystique of Notre Dame." In November 1924, he left to join the Congregation of Holy Cross.

He professed perpetual vows in 1929 and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in June 1930. He then went to the Foreign Missionary Seminary in Washington, D.C. He was ordained a priest in 1934

Father McCauley was formed at the Foreign Mission Seminary to serve as an overseas missionary. Years later, in a lecture at Creighton,  he at least partially attributed his motivation to be a missionary to the example of sharing and self-sacrifice that he experienced from family and friends at home in Council Bluffs. After his 1934 ordination, the Congregation of Holy Cross, with the economic hardship of the Great Depression, had insufficient funds to send Father Vincent  overseas.

In 1936 with a  recovering economy Father Vincent was sent to  East Bengal, a territory that roughly corresponds to modern day Bangladesh.  From 1936 to 1939  he worked in education, teaching in a high school and forming catechists. His mission work instilled a lifelong commitment in  the formation of indigenous clergy. In 1940 he contracted Malaria and spent several months recuperating.

He was appointed rector and superior of Little Flower Seminary in Bandhura. His health remained fragile, battling relapses of malaria and other tropical maladies with regular frequency. But his enthusiasm for the mission could not conquer his persistent health problems. In December 1943, while on a trip to Dhaka, a severe case of phlebitis necessitated a two-month hospitalization. Eventually, in the midst of World War II, Holy Cross prevailed upon the U.S. Army for assistance in providing a medical evacuation for him. Flown back to the U.S., he began an extended period of recovery.

In 1945, Father Vincent became assistant superior of the Foreign Mission Seminary in Washington, D.C. In 1946, he was appointed superior and rector, a post he would hold for six years.

In 1952, he was appointed procurator for the missions. During this period he began his first treatment at the Mayo Clinic for Skin cancer. As the chief fundraiser for Holy Cross Missions in Bengal, he bragged that he would log 80,000 miles annually to preach missions and raise funds.

Having successfully guided the Holy Cross mission in Uganda from its beginning, Father Vincent was the most natural fit to continue leadership as the first bishop of Fort Portal. He was consecrated a bishop at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame in May 1961.

The independence movement in Uganda influenced his initial leadership. He organized his diocese according to principles that had guided his missionary efforts for the previous twenty years, namely: Inculturation and promotion of the local church and local clergy.

As Bishop he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, which proved to be a strong influence on his leadership as bishop. While he labored to establish the necessary financing for his young diocese, he also sought to provide pastoral leadership for his diocese. In the mid-1960s, Bishop McCauley was an advocate for refugees from Rwanda, the Congo, and the Sudan. He worked to form close bonds among priests of diverse ages and nationalities from different cultures and religious orders  while he also had to overcome conflict among the tribes of his diocese. 

He also led and supported the development of religious congregations of women and promoted their movement into new areas of ministry. Bishop McCauley was instrumental in the promotion of the laity and ecumenism and also led great strides in the area of education. He accomplished all this while suffering from repeated bouts with skin cancer, malaria, and other ailments.

From the outset of his time as bishop of Fort Portal, Bishop McCauley worked to organize and to promote the work of the Catholic Church in East Africa. In 1964, during the Second Vatican Council, he became chairman of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA). As chairman, he guided the bishops to present a voice at Vatican II, guided the association through its first three triennial plenary meetings, and arranged the basic organization of AMECEA and its departments. Along with Fr. Killian Flynn, O.F.M., Cap., the organization's first secretary-general, Bishop McCauley rescued the organization's finances. He also established the Gaba Pastoral Institute for the formation of catechists. When his period of chairmanship ended in 1973, he replaced Father Flynn as secretary-general. In assuming the new responsibility, moved from Fort Portal to Nairobi.

 Bishop McCauley suffered from facial skin cancer for much of his adult life. In all, he had more than fifty surgeries. As he grew older, additional health 

concerns emerged. In September 1976, a plastic aorta was inserted into his heart at the Mayo Clinic. Beginning in July 1982, he began to suffer acute pulmonary hemorrhages. In October 1982, he returned to the U.S. for treatment. After a particularly severe hemorrhage, aware of the risks, Bishop McCauley undertook exploratory surgery and died while undergoing surgery in 1980. The Catholic University of Eastern Africa named its new library after this man who is still remembered in the hearts of his people.