Daniel Austin Dowling (April 6, 1868 – November 29, 1930) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the second archbishop of what was then the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minnesota from 1919 until his death.
Dowling served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines in Iowa from 1912 to 1919.
Background
Daniel Dowling was born in New York City on April 6, 1868, to Daniel and Mary Teresa (née Santry) Dowling. On April 19 was baptized and given his Christian name, Daniel Austin. When Dowling was a child, his family moved to Newport, Rhode Island. He attended Academy of the Sisters of Mercy in Newport.
Dowling went to New York City to enter Manhattan College, graduating with an A.B. with high honors in 1887. Dowling started his theological studies at St. John's Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts.
Career
Priesthood
Dowling was ordained to the priesthood in Providence, Rhode Island, by Bishop Matthew A. Harkins on June 24, 1891, for the Diocese of Providence. After his ordination, Dowling was sent to Washington, D.C. to work on his graduate studies in theology and church history at the Catholic University of America. After serving one year as a pastor at a parish in Warren, Rhode Island, Dowling returned to St. John's Seminary to teach church history for two years. Author Marvin O'Connell described Dowling as<blockquote>"...a man who was by taste, habit and profession an historian; he could not set about finding solutions to problems facing him until he examined those problems in the light of the past." </blockquote> In 1896, Dowling spent two years as editor of the Providence Visitor, building a reputation as a Catholic editor in the United States. After leaving the newspaper, he was assigned as assistant pastor at St. Joseph's Parish in Providence, Rhode Island, then as pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Warren, Rhode Island. Dowling was later named as rector of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence.
Bishop of Des Moines
On January 31, 1912, Pope Pius X appointed Dowling as bishop of Des Moines. He was consecrated by Bishop Harkins on April 25, 1912, at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence.
Personal life and death
thumb|The grave of Archbishop Dowling, Calvary Cemetery, St. Paul, Minnesota (2024)
During the last years of his life, Dowling's health was seriously impaired due to heart disease. Dowling described the challenge for Catholics in the post-World War I era as follows:
The challenge for American Catholics during the 1920s was that immigrants came to America poor and disadvantaged and they associated the catholic religion with their old countries. As immigrants improved their quality of life and became more "American," culture and religion was lost and forgotten. Dowling summarized it best saying, "as they progress in wealth and station they frequently strive to hide their origins, to change their names and affect manners that do not belong to them. Even when they keep up the practice of their religion, they are frequently ashamed of it."
Dowling argued that the solution would be to convince people that "foreignism" and Catholicism were not intimately linked.
Archbishop Ireland Educational Fund
thumb|160px|Archbishop John Ireland
At the first anniversary requiem for his predecessor, Archbishop John Ireland, Dowling established the Archbishop Ireland Educational Fund. He said that the present needs for education were "to develop, coordinate and consolidate the education system to provide for greater efficiency." In fact, he knew many of the boys at Nazareth Hall as well as their teachers knew them.