Early life William Keeler was born on March 4, 1931, in
San Antonio, Texas, to Thomas Love and Margaret (née Conway) Keeler. One of five children, Lawrence Keeler was of mixed Irish,
Alsatian, and Scottish ancestry. Margaret Keeler, the daughter of an Illinois farmer, was a schoolteacher. Thomas Love was a steel-casting salesman. Shortly after Keeler's birth, the family moved to
Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Keeler attended the St. Mary School and
Lebanon Catholic High School. The Diocese of Harrisburg then sent him to study at the
Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Priesthood While he was in Rome, Keeler was
ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Harrisburg on July 17, 1955, by Archbishop
Luigi Traglia. Keeler received a
Licentiate of Sacred Theology (1956) and a
Doctor of Canon Law (1961) from the Gregorian. After returning to Harrisburg in 1961, the diocese assigned him to
pastoral and
curial work. With the start of the first session of the
Second Vatican Council in 1962, Keeler served as
peritus (expert) and secretary to Bishop
George L. Leech in Rome. Keeler attended all four sessions of the council, from 1962 to 1965. Keeler worked for the
Council Digest, a communications service used to bring news of the Council sessions to American Catholics. He received his
episcopal consecration on September 21, 1979, at the
Cathedral of Saint Patrick in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from Bishop
Joseph Thomas Daley, with Bishops
Francis Gossman and
Martin Lohmuller serving as
co-consecrators. Keeler took as his episcopal
motto:
Opus Fac Evangelistae ("Do the Work of an Evangelist"). Keeler was installed on January 4, 1984, in the Cathedral of St. Patrick. As bishop of Harrisburg, Keeler served on committees for interreligious dialogue and helped expand diocesan youth ministry. As bishop, Keeler made the fostering of ministry to Hispanic Catholics a top priority. In 1979, he purchased a vacant church in
York, Pennsylvania, to erect the first Spanish-language parish in the diocese. He frequently attended services and celebrations being held by the Hispanic community.
Archbishop of Baltimore 1989 to 2000 in Baltimore (1992)|286x286px John Paul II named Keeler as the fourteenth archbishop of Baltimore on April 11, 1989, following the retirement of Archbishop
William Borders. He helped facilitate John Paul II's 1995 papal visit to Baltimore. At that time, journalist Bill Broadway of
The Washington Post called Keeler "one of the most respected Catholic leaders in the United States." That same year, the pope named him a member of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Keeler in 1997 announced initiatives to curb
domestic violence within the archdiocese. These included pushing for legislation at the state level, providing education in parishes and schools and tasking pastors with holding healing services for victims.
2000 to 2006 (2005) From 1998 to 2001 and again from late 2003 to 2006, Keeler served as chair for the Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Keeler, however, became the first bishop to identify publicly priests who had been "credibly accused of child abuse," listing 57 on the archdiocese website. He also detailed detailing $5.6 million that the archdiocese had spent on settlements, legal fees and counseling. Blackwell was convicted of molesting Stokes in February 2005, but the verdict was overturned on appeal in July of that year. Keeler was responsible for the restoration of Baltimore's
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, America's first
cathedral. The $32 million for the project was raised from private donations. Construction lasted from 2004 until November 2006. The project was finished in time for the 200th anniversary of the cathedral's groundbreaking. Keeler served as grand prior of the Middle Atlantic USA Lieutenancy of the
Order of the Holy Sepulchre from 2005 to 2007.
Retirement and legacy In April 2006, Keeler, after reaching age 75, Keeler submitted his resignation as archbishop of Baltimore to the pope as required by
church law. It was accepted by Benedict XVI on July 12, 2007. On March 23, 2017, Keeler died at age 86 in his residence at St. Martin's Home for the Aged, run by the
Little Sisters of the Poor, in
Catonsville, Maryland. He had been ill for several years. On August 14, 2018, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court released a report that alleged Keeler committed criminal inaction during his time as bishop of Harrisburg. The grand jury report stated that Keeler learned in 1987 of allegations of sexual abuse against Reverend Arthur Long. A church memo written in 1995, the year that Long was removed from ministry, revealed that accusations of "inappropriate behavior" had surfaced against Long in 1991 and 1992 during his time in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Immediately after the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, the Archdiocese of Baltimore in August 2018 cancelled plans to name a new Catholic school after Keeler due to his handling of the Long accusations. ==Viewpoints==