Cardinal Adam Joseph Maida, Archbishop of Detroit and Superior of Cayman Islands, was born on March 18, 1930 in East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. He was the first of three sons born to Adam Maida and Sophia Cieslak Maida.
Archbishop Maida's father, now deceased, came to the United States from a rural area near Warsaw, Poland. His mother was born in the United States.
Archbishop Maida attended East Vandergrift public schools and Scott Township High School for two years. He completed high school and graduated from St Mary's High School, Orchard Lake, Michigan, in 1948. Following graduation he entered St Mary's College, Orchard Lake. In 1950, he transferred to St Vincent's College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1952 with a B.A. in philosophy. In 1956, he graduated with a licentiate in sacred theology (S.T.L.) from St Mary's University, Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1960, he received a licentiate in canon law (J.C.L.) from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. In 1964, he was awarded a doctorate in civil law (J.D) from the Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh. Archbishop Maida was admitted to practice law before the Bar of the State of Pennsylvania and before the United States Supreme Court.
On May 26, 1956, he was ordained a priest in St Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, by the late Bishop John Dearden (Cardinal Archbishop of Detroit). Following his ordination, Archbishop Maida served in the diocese of Pittsburgh as an associate pastor, vice-chancellor and general counsellor of the diocese, in the diocesan tribunal, and as assistant professor of theology at La Roche College.
On November 7, 1983 he was nominated the ninth bishop of the diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin and on January 25, 1984, he was ordained and installed as bishop.
On April 28, 1990, Pope John Paul II named Bishop Maida Archbishop of Detroit and he was installed on June 12, 1990.
From July 14, 2000 he also the Superior of the Mission sui iuris of Cayman Islans.
Cardinal Maida has also served as chairman of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) Canonical Affairs Committee (1992); member of the NCCB Bishops' and President's Committee; member of the NCCB Economic Concerns of the Holy See; member of the NCCB Migration and Refugee Services; member of the NCCB Nominations of Conference Officers; member of the NCCB Pro-Life Committee; member of the NCCB Committe of the Polish Apostolate; member of the United States Catholic Conferences (USCC) Ex Corde Ecclesiae Committee; member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America; member of Board of Trustees of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.; member of the Board of Directors of the Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Centre, Braintree, Massachusetts; Chairman of the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) Board of Trustees; member of the John Paul II Cultural Foundation, Rome; episcopal moderator and President of the John Paul II Cultural Foundation, United States.
He was Editor of the Tribunal Reporter - A Casebook and Commentary on the Grounds for Annulment in the Catholic Church, Vol. 1 (1970); of the Issues in the Labor-Management Dialogue: Church Perspectives (1982); and Author of the Ownership, Control and Sponsorship of Catholic Institutions (1975); and the Church Property, Church Finances and Church-Related Corporations, a Canon Law Handbook (1983).
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of November 26, 1994, of the Title of Ss. Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio (Sts. Vitalis, Valeris, Gervase and Protase).
Member of:
- Congregations: for the Clergy; for Catholic Education;
- Pontifical Councils: for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples; for Legislative texts;
- Cardinal Commission for the Supervision of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).
