
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993                   TAG: 9303270178
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EX-BISHOP REMEMBERED AS DIOCESE REFORMER

Roman Catholics throughout Virginia last week mourned the death of the Most Rev. John Joyce Russell, former bishop of the Diocese of Richmond.

Russell, 95, died March 17 in Richmond.

He was bishop from 1958 until 1973, when he was succeeded by the current bishop, the Most Rev. Walter F. Sullivan.

While he was bishop, Russell was credited with widespread reform in the diocese. In particular, he initiated changes in worship and practice brought about by the Second Vatican Council. Those included such things as the use of English in the mass and the establishment of ecumenical affiliations

Russell was one of the "Fathers" of Vatican II, which met between 1962 and 1965.

He was considered "unreversedly liberal" and outspoken on some civil rights issues in the 1960s, in particular in his opposition to bans on interracial marriages. He was also known as a religious conservative by his staunch defense of traditional Catholic opposition to birth control, abortion and the taxation of parochial school property.

by CNB