The Bishop John S. Cummins Collection

John Stephen Cummins was born March 3, 1928, in Berkeley, California, and died December 3, 2024, in Oakland, California. Cummins was the second son of Michael and Mary Cummins, both natives of Ireland. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. Bishop Cummins was the second bishop of the Diocese of Oakland.

Bishop Cummins was ordained to the priesthood on January 24, 1953, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, California. His first assignment was as associate pastor at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco. He served as campus minister at San Francisco State University until he was appointed as a faculty member at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California in 1957.

In 1962 Father Cummins was named the first chancellor of the newly created Diocese of Oakland. In 1971 he was appointed executive director of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops, headquartered in Sacramento. On May 16, 1974, he was ordained a bishop and installed as auxiliary bishop to the Diocese of Sacramento. He continued to serve as executive director of the California Catholic Conference until 1977. He served as the bishop president of the California Catholic Conference from 1988-1997.

Upon the death of Bishop Floyd L. Begin, founding bishop of the Oakland Diocese, Bishop Cummins was appointed the second bishop of Oakland and installed on June 30, 1977. He led the diocese for 26 years, retiring at the mandatory age of 75, on October 1, 2003.

In addition to his responsibilities as bishop of Oakland, he served on the national level as chair of several committees of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), including the Liturgy Committee (1981-84), Laity (1988-91), Migration and Refugee Services (1995-98), CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.) (1995-99), and as co-chair of the Roman Catholic-Reformed Presbyterian Dialogue Commission and as a consultant and member of other committees and commissions. In addition, he was a delegate for the Synod of the Americas in Rome (1997), the Asian Synod in Rome (1998) and the IV Congress on Pastoral Care of Migrants (1998).