Floyd Lawrence Begin


Floyd Lawrence Begin was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Oakland from 1962 until his death in 1977.

Early life and education

Floyd Begin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest of three children of Peter H. and Stella Agnes Begin. He received his early education at the parochial schools of and . He attended Cathedral Latin High School and St. John Cathedral College, both in Cleveland. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1920
Begin then studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he served as assistant to the rector during his studies. He earned a doctorate in philosophy and in theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University. In 1930, he received a doctorate in canon law from the Apollinarus University.

Priesthood

Begin was ordained a priest in Rome on July 31, 1927. Following his return to Ohio, he briefly served as administrator of in Canton. From 1930 to 1938, he served as secretary to Bishop Joseph Schrembs as well as vice-chancellor and pro-vicar general of the Diocese of Cleveland.
Begin became an officialis of the diocesan tribunal in 1938. He served as director of both the Diocesan Council of Catholic Men and the seventh National Eucharistic Congress. He was also chaplain of the Rosemary Home for Crippled Children in Euclid and diocesan vicar for religious. He was named by Pope Pius XI a papal chamberlain in 1934, and raised by Pius XI to the rank of domestic prelate in 1936.

Episcopacy

Cleveland

On March 22, 1947, Begin was appointed auxiliary bishop of Cleveland and titular bishop of Sala by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 1 from Bishop Edward Francis Hoban, with Bishops James A. McFadden and Joseph Thomas McGucken serving as co-consecrators. He was named vicar general of the diocese in March 1948 and pastor of in Cleveland in January 1949.
During his tenure at St. Agnes, Begin advocated more services for and acceptance of African Americans, who mostly composed the parishioners at St. Agnes. In 1954, he unsuccessfully tried to get a Knights of Columbus charter for an interracial council in Cleveland. When the Knights of Columbus refused to give the charter, he declared, "The only reason they're being kept out is their color. Anyone who denies that is a pussy-footing liar."

Oakland

On January 27, 1962, Begin was appointed the first Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Oakland, California, by Pope John XXIII. The diocese comprised Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, and included 386,000 Catholics. His installation took place on April 28 of that year. Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council.
San Francisco Archbishop Joseph Thomas McGucken said the funeral mass for Begin, his former classmate from the Pontifical North American College. Begin was buried in the Bishop's Crypt at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, California. November 2, 2008, his remains were re-interred in the Cathedral Mausoleum of the new Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California.