Styles of John Anthony Dooher
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

John Anthony Dooher (born May 3, 1943) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts from 2006 to 2018.

Biography

Early life and education

John Dooher was born on May 3, 1943, in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, to Irish immigrants Anthony (Tony) and Brigid (Patsy) Dooher.^[1][2] One of four children, he has two brothers, Francis and Terence, and one sister, Kathleen.^[2] Following the death of his aunt, many of his cousins moved in with his family.^[2] The Dooher family included several priests.^[1][2]

Dooher said that he was inspired to enter the priesthood as a young man by the Reverend Mortimer Gavin, who founded the Boston Labor Guild.^[3] Dooher studied at St. John's Seminary in Boston, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 and a Master of Divinity degree in 1969.^[4][5][2]

Ordination and ministry

Dooher was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston on May 21, 1969, by Cardinal Richard Cushing.^[6] After ordination, Dooher served as associate pastor at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Weymouth, Massachusetts, also working as chaplain at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth and the Naval Air Station South Weymouth.^[2][1] In 1974, Dooher was posted to St. Augustine Parish in South Boston.^[3] During this period, he also served as president of the Priests' Senate (1978–1982) and director of the Office of Spiritual Development (1982–1991).^[1][2]

From 1991 to 1996, Dooher served in pastoral postings at St. Vincent de Paul Parish and Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Boston, which were later merged.^[3][1] In 1996, Dooher was named pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts.^[4] At St. Mary's, Dooher also founded the Life Teen program.^[1] He said that Life Teen was

"one of the most satisfying things I've ever been involved with in ministry. If there's any group that needs to feel as if they belong to a church, its teenagers, and Life Teen really helps with that."^[3]

Dooher was part of the Singing Priests, a group that performed for various charities; he played the guitar, harp, and piano.^[3]

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston

On October 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Dooher as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston and titular bishop of Theveste . He received his episcopal consecration on December 12, 2006, from Cardinal Seán O'Malley, with Bishops Francis Irwin and Walter Edyvean serving as co-consecrators.^[6] As an auxiliary, Dooher served as regional bishop for the South Pastoral Region.^[7]

Dooher's appointment was met with some criticism from advocates of sexual abuse victims' rights, who claimed that Dooher "abetted a harmful and immoral coverup for the Boston archdiocese" as a priest.^[8][9] He had been mentioned in a 2003 report by Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly as one of two priests who in the mid-1990's met with pastors in parishes affected by abuse cases. In a 2002 deposition by Bishop John McCormack, Dooher was noted as having participated in conversations in the archdiocese in 1994 about where to house abusive priests.^[8]

Retirement

On June 30, 2018, Pope Francis accepted Dooher's letter of resignation as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston after he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.^[5]