Early life and education Emerson Moore was born in the
Harlem section of
New York City on May 16, 1938. He was the son of a
subway motorman and a hospital nurse. He was raised in the
Bronx, where he attended
Cardinal Hayes High School. Born into a
Baptist family, he converted to Catholicism at age 15 in 1953. Moore studied for the
priesthood at Cathedral College in
Manhattan and at
St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York. He later earned a
Master of Social Work degree from
Columbia University in Manhattan and a
Master of Public Administration degree from
New York University. After his 1964 ordination, the archdiocese assigned Moore as an assistant pastor at St. Augustine Church in
Ossining, New York and then at the
Church of the Holy Family Parish in Manhattan. Cardinal
John J. O'Connor described Moore as "the most popular preacher in town."
Episcopacy On July 3, 1982, Moore was appointed
auxiliary bishop of New York and
titular bishop of Curubis by John Paul II. That same year, Moore was arrested alongside City Clerk
David Dinkins during an anti-
apartheid protest outside of the
South African consulate in Manhattan. In early 1994, Moore entered the
Hazelden Foundation, a drug and alcohol treatment center in
Center City,
Minnesota.
Death and legacy On September 14, 1995, Moore died at Hazelden from HIV/AIDS at age 57.The archdiocese said that he died of "natural causes of unknown origin". O'Connor said he could not discuss the circumstances of Moore's death, but said that he would not be ashamed if one of his priests or bishops contracted HIV/AIDS. At Moore's funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral, O'Connor discussed the challenges that Moore faced as an African-American bishop in the Catholic Church, saying: "It is not enough that a black bishop be ordinarily intelligent. He is expected to be extraordinarily intelligent. It is not enough for him to preach adequately; he must preach brilliantly. It is not enough for him to be polite; he must be the essence of courtesy. If he speaks with pride of being black, he's racist; if he supports civil rights, he's a threat. If he praises white people, he's an Uncle Tom. He is expected to be a paragon of priestliness, yet be more human than the weakest among us. In short, if he cannot walk on water, he's an utter failure; if he walks on water too easily, he has forgotten his 'place'." ==References==