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Father John F. Hotchkin, Executive Director of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, died at his residence in Washington, June 24, 2001. He was 66.
Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said: "I am saddened by the sudden death of Father John Hotchkin, a priest completely committed to the Church and to the cause of Christian unity. Pastoral and scholarly, Father Hotchkin was a gifted ecumenist and a warm and kindly priest. He devoted 35 years of his priestly career to the Committee and Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, which he served almost from the time of its creation by the Bishops of the United States during the Second Vatican Council. In this role he participated in and inspired countless interreligious dialogues and other projects which form an extraordinary legacy. Father Hotchkin will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him. I pray for the repose of his soul and offer my condolences to his beloved family and colleagues."
John Hotchkin was born on February 3, 1935 and ordained to the priesthood in Rome on May 15, 1959. He became associate director of the ecumenical secretariat on January 1, 1967, and succeeded Cardinal Bernard Law as Executive Director in April, 1971. The Secretariat has been extensively engaged over the years since the Second Vatican Council with Christian churches, the Jewish community, and other major religious bodies on the national level, co-sponsoring with them a wide range of bi-lateral and multi-lateral dialogues. In 1973, Pope Paul VI named him as consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue from 1985 to 1990.
Father Hotchkin had earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and was awarded a Doctorate of Law honoris causa by the Catholic University of America in 1997. In 1990 he was the recipient of the James Fitzgerald Award for Ecumenism of the National Association of Ecumenical Officers. In 1997 the Archdiocese of Chicago bestowed upon him the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Laureate in Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. In 2000 he was the recipient of the Paul Wattson Christian Unity Award presented by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.
Father Hotchkin was a contributor to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, the New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship, the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Origins, L'Osservatore Romano, and numerous other publications.
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