The Rt. Rev. James Montgomery, ninth bishop of Chicago. Photo: Diocese of Chicago

[Diocese of Chicago] The Rt. Rev. James Montgomery, ninth bishop of Chicago, died on Oct. 23 at home after a short illness. He was 98 years old. Montgomery served as bishop diocesan from 1971 to 1987, during a period of intense change in the diocese and the entire church.

Montgomery was born in Chicago on May 29, 1921, to James Edward Montgomery and Evelyn Winchester Montgomery, the daughter of the Rt. Rev. James Winchester, bishop of Arkansas from 1911 to 1931. He grew up in Rogers Park and attended Sullivan High School and Northwestern University. After service as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he entered the General Theological Seminary and was ordained priest and deacon by Bishop Wallace E. Conkling, seventh bishop of Chicago, in 1949.

Read the full letter Bishop of Chicago Jeffrey D. Lee sent to the diocese here.