Bishop of Orlando On May 2, 1968,
Pope Paul VI appointed Borders as the first
bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Orlando. He received his
episcopal consecration on June 14, 1968, from Archbishop
Luigi Raimondi, with Bishops
Robert Emmet Tracy and
Louis Abel Caillouet serving as
co-consecrators. He created a Social Services Board to correlate the work of already-existing agencies, and developed a comprehensive educational program aimed at coordinating efforts in Catholics schools, campus ministry, and religious education. He also initiated social outreach centers to minister to
migrant workers and the poor. However, such a statement does not exist in the
1917 Code of Canon Law, it is unclear if this anecdote happened, and the secretary of communications for the diocese says that it does not claim the moon.
Archbishop of Baltimore Following the retirement of Cardinal
Lawrence Shehan, Borders was appointed the 13th archbishop of Baltimore by Paul VI on March 25, 1974. He was installed at the
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore on June 26 of that year. He clarified and strengthened the role of the archdiocesan Pastoral Council, and combined the Board of Consultors and the Senate of Priests to form the Priests' Council. He initiated a Department of Pastoral Planning and Management looking to the future needs of the archdiocese, an Office of Fund Development to carry out an effective stewardship program, and an evangelization effort to reach the "
unchurched" in the archdiocese. Instead of living at the residence at the
Basilica of the Assumption, he lived alone at the former sexton's lodge, which is now the gift shop of the basilica. Borders became what
Baltimore Magazine called the "king of the
soup kitchens". Under his leadership in Baltimore, the budget for the local branch of
Catholic Charities grew from $2.5 million a year to $33 million a year, and its staff grew from 200 to more than 1,000. He regularly lobbied members of the
U.S. Congress and other government officials on behalf of the disadvantaged. In 1981, in company with other leading Catholic educators, he made a three-week tour of the
People's Republic of China to investigate the possibilities for an exchange of cultural and educational programs between China and the United States. Borders was named in two lawsuits involving
clergy sexual abuse, one in Baltimore in 1993 and another in Orlando in 2003. In both cases, he was accused of knowing about alleged abuse by priests in his dioceses but avoiding action against them. The conditions of the Baltimore settlement remain confidential; the Orlando case was settled without Borders' admitting any wrongdoing. As a member of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, he chaired the Committee on Education and served on the Committee on Human Values, the Administrative Board of the U.S. Catholic Conference, and the Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He also chaired the Ad Hoc Committee for the Bicentennial of the U.S. Hierarchy. ==Later life and death==