Bishop McAuliffe, retired bishop of Jefferson City, dies at 85

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CNS) -- Retired Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe of Jefferson City died in his sleep Jan. 9 in the Jeanne Jugan Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Kansas City. He was 85. His successor, Bishop John R. Gaydos, described Bishop McAuliffe as "a gentle man of God" and said "it was in keeping that he gently slipped the traces of this earthly existence." His funeral Mass was scheduled for Jan. 14 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City, followed by burial in Resurrection Cemetery, also in Jefferson City. A priest of the Diocese of Kansas City, later renamed the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, Bishop McAuliffe headed the Jefferson City Diocese from 1969 until his retirement in 1997. Although he headed a relatively small diocese, with about 90,000 Catholics, Bishop McAuliffe became nationally known when he chaired the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Women in Church and Society from 1974 to 1982.