James Patterson Lyke, O.F.M. (February 18, 1939 — December 27, 1992) was an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 clerygman of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. He served as Archbishop of Atlanta from 1991 to 1992.

Biography

James Lyke was born on the South Side

South Side (Chicago)

The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...

 of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, the youngest of seven children of Amos and Ora (née Sneed) Lyke. His father abandoned the family, and his mother was left to raise the children in impoverished surroundings, relying on welfare

American welfare state

Social programs in the United States are those institutions, supported or managed by the U.S. government, that aim to ensure economic security, universal access to the resources for self-development and the reduction of social suffering, such as poverty and illness. The main guiding philosophy for...

 checks. The family lived in a flat, where there were no beds and the only source of heat was a coal stove, before moving to Wentworth Gardens, a Chicago housing project

Public housing in the United States

Public housing in the United States has been administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized assistance for low-income and people living in poverty. Now increasingly provided in a variety of settings and formats, originally public housing in the U.S...

. His mother, a Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

, sent James to a Catholic school in the fourth grade in order to keep him out of trouble, and did the church's laundry to help pay the tuition. Shortly afterwards, she and six of her children, including James, converted to Catholicism.

He joined the Franciscan order in 1959, studying at St. Francis Novitiate in Teutopolis, Illinois

Teutopolis, Illinois

Teutopolis is a village in Effingham County, Illinois.-Geography:Teutopolis is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land.-History:...

, later obtaining his B.A.
degree in philosophy at Our Lady of Angels House of Philosophy through Quincy College in Illinois. He held a master's of divinity from St. Joseph Theological Seminary in Teutopolis and received a Ph.D. in theology in 1981 from the Union Graduate School in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

.

Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland

While serving as Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Cleveland, Bishop Lyke Coordinated the hymnal project which produced Lead Me, Guide Me: the African American Catholic Hymnal in 1987.

Apostolic Administrator of Atlanta

After the resignation of Archbishop Eugene Marino due to scandal in 1990, Bishop Lyke was appointed Apostolic Administrator

Apostolic Administrator

An apostolic administrator in the Roman Catholic Church is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as the ordinary for an apostolic administration...

 of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

Archbishop of Atlanta

He was then appointed archbishop there, and was installed as such on June 24, 1991. Lyke died of cancer in 1992. At the time of his death, he was the highest-ranking black Catholic clergyman in the nation.

Legacy

• Lyke House - the Catholic (Newman) Center in the Atlanta University Center
  Atlanta University Center
  The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia...
  
  - is named for him.

• Archbishop Lyke Catholic Elementary School in Cleveland-Garfield Heights is named after him. In 1994, Saints Catherine and Henry in Cleveland and Saint Timothy in Garfield Heights which are predominately African-American Catholic parishes merged their grade schools into Archbishop Lyke Elementary. They have a two campus system in which St.Henry has grades k-4 and St. Timothy grades 5-8.