Retired Pittsburgh Bishop John McDowell dead at 88

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Retired Auxiliary Bishop John McDowell of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has died.

The diocese says McDowell was 88 when he died Thursday at UPMC Passavant Hospital.

Bishop McDowell served in the diocese as superintendent of schools at vicar for education. The Bishop John B. McDowell Regional Elementary School was named for him in Pittsburgh’s South Hills suburbs in 1995.

He retired in 1996 after 30 years as bishop.

He helped draft a landmark document for U.S. bishops on catechesis, or church teaching, entitled “To Teach as Jesus Did” in 1972. He also wrote biographies on seven former bishops of Pittsburgh.