George Avis Fulcher
{{Short description|Catholic bishop}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type =
| honorific_prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend
| name = George Avis Fulcher
| honorific_suffix =
| title = Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana
Titular Bishop of Morosbisdus
| image = Coat of arms of George Avis Fulcher.svg
| image_size =
| caption =
| church = Roman Catholic Church
| archdiocese =
| diocese =
| see = Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana
| elected =
| term =
| predecessor = Raymond Joseph Gallagher
| successor = William Leo Higi
| other_post = Auxiliary Bishop of Columbus
1976 to 1983
Titular Bishop of Morosbisdus
| ordination = February 28, 1948
| ordained_by = Michael Joseph Ready
| consecration = July 18, 1976
| consecrated_by = Edward John Herrmann
| birth_date = January 30, 1922
| birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|01|25|1922|01|30}}
| death_place = Rockville, Indiana, US
| buried =
| nationality =
| religion =
| parents =
| education =
| motto =
| signature =
| coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of George Avis Fulcher.svg
}}
{{infobox bishopstyles
| name=George Avis Fulcher
| dipstyle=Reverend
| offstyle=Your Excellency
| relstyle=Bishop
| deathstyle=none |
|image=Coat of arms of George Avis Fulcher.svg|image_size=200px}}
George Avis Fulcher (January 30, 1922 – January 25, 1984) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana from 1983 until his death in 1984.{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bfulcher|Bishop George Avis Fulcher|21 January 2015}} He previously served as an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Columbus from 1976 to 1983.
Biography
George Fulcher was born in Columbus, Ohio, on January 30, 1922, to George and Mary (Lennon) Fulcher. He was baptized at Saint Patrick Church and briefly attended primary school there, before his family moved to the Hilltop and began attending St. Aloysius. He graduated from Saint Charles Preparatory School in 1940 and entered seminary studies at the Athenaeum of Ohio in 1944. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Columbus by Bishop Michael Ready on February 28, 1948. In addition to parish pastoral work, he served as the editor-in-chief of the diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Times, from 1958 to 1963.{{Cite web |title=Catholic News Service - Newsfeeds 1 April 1963 — The Catholic News Archive |url=https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cns19630401-01.1.202&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22George+Fulcher%22------- |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=thecatholicnewsarchive.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Schlegel |first=Donald |date=November 1998 |title=The Bishops of Columbus: Most Rev. George Avis Fulcher, S.T.D. |url=https://columbuscatholic.org/system/resources/W1siZiIsIjIwMjEvMTAvMjYvOGd2ZncwaXFpMV9DUlNfMTk5OF8xMS5wZGYiXV0/CRS_1998_11.pdf |journal=The Bulletin of the Catholic Record Society of Columbus |volume=XXIII |issue=11 |pages=183–185}}
= Auxiliary Bishop of Columbus =
Fulcher was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Columbus and Titular Bishop of Morosbisdus by Pope Paul VI on May 24, 1976. Fulcher was consecrated by Bishop Edward John Herrmann on July 18, 1976. He served as the rector of St. Joseph Cathedral from 1975 to 1983, and also served on the NCCB committee that drafted the Pastoral Letter on Peace.{{Cite book |last=Prosen |first=Anthony Joseph |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofdiocese0000pros/page/52/mode/1up?q=%22Bishop+George+Fulcher%22 |title=A History of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana |publisher=Éditions du Signe |year=2006}}
= Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana =
On February 8, 1983, Fulcher was appointed by Pope John Paul II as bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana. He was later appointed to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops committee for the implementation of the Pastoral Letter on Peace.
While returning a conference he had given to religious superiors in Terre Haute, on January 25, 1984, George Fulcher was killed when his car crashed off US-41 near Rockville, Indiana.{{Cite news |date=3 February 1988 |title=Bp. Fulcher Dies in Crash |pages=2 |work=The St. Louis Review |url=https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=SLR19840203-01.2.9&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-George+Fulcher-------}} He was 62 years old at the time of his death.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150801073157/http://dol-in.org/ Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, Indiana] Official website
Episcopal succession
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{succession box |
before=Raymond Joseph Gallagher|
title=Bishop of Lafayette in Indiana |
years=1983—1984|
after=William Leo Higi
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana}}
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulcher, George Avis}}
Category:Clergy from Columbus, Ohio
Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
Category:Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus