Most Rev. Bernard M. Kelly, D.D., J.C.D.

Consecrated Titular Bishop of Tegea and Auxiliary to Most Rev. Russell J. McVinney, D.D., Jan. 30, 1964

Resigned June 14, 1971
Died December 5, 2006

Bishop Bernard Matthew Kelly was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7, 1918, son of James C. and Julia (Hanlon) Kelly. He graduated from Blessed Sacrament School in 1932; La Salle Academy in 1936 and then attended Providence College for two years, from 1936-1938. He then attended the Lateran University, in Rome, from 1938-1940, followed by the Catholic University Theological College and the Sulpician Seminary from 1940-1944. He was ordained a priest on June 3, 1944. After ordination, he earned a doctorate in canon law at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and served as assistant pastor and as an instructor at La Salle Academy in Providence. He also served as chaplain of Mother of Hope Novitiate in Warwick, Rhode Island and as spiritual director of Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick Neck. In 1947, Kelly was named defender of the bond for the diocese.

Kelly was consecrated a bishop on January 30, 1964 — two years after the death of Auxiliary Bishop Maloney — becoming the second auxiliary to serve with Bishop Russell J. McVinney. He was tasked with many administrative duties in the diocese and played an active role in the social justice and anti-war movements of the 1960s. He became a vocal critic of the Vietnam War.

On June 14, 1971, he resigned as Auxiliary Bishop and, unfortunately, left priestly and episcopal ministry until his death on December 5, 2006, in Keyser, West Virginia, at the age of 88.