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Biography
John Kevin Boland (born April 25, 1935) is a retired Irish-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah in the United States from 1995 to 2011.
Biography
Early life and ordination
John Kevin Boland was born in Monkstown, County Cork, Ireland in 1935. His parents, John Joseph and Gertrude O’Brien, are deceased. He has three brothers, Frank, Tony and Raymond, who is the former bishop of Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Christian Brothers College in Cork and All Hallows Seminary in Dublin. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1959, for the Diocese of Savannah by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid of Dublin.
U.S. education
Boland attended the Catholic University of America (1962–1964), and Fordham University (1987–1989), from which he holds a Master’s Degree. In 1974, he also attended the Pontifical North American College in its Continuing Education program.
Bishop of Savannah
He was appointed Bishop of Savannah on February 7, 1995, and his episcopal consecration took place on April 18, 1995, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on April 25, 2010 and submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.
He was a member of the Pastoral Practices Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has served on the Board of the Southeast Pastoral Institute. He had been Region IV representative to the USCCB Administrative Committee and a member of the USCCB Communications Committee. In November 2001 he was named chairman of the Committee on Marriage and Family Life. In November 2002, he became a member of the USCCB Budget and Finance Committee. Boland is currently a board member of the All Hallows Missionary College Fund and a Trustee for Catholic Mutual Group.