Joseph Thomas Dimino
Joseph Thomas Dimino was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop for the Military Services from 1991 to 1997.Biography
Dimino was born in New York City, and attended Cathedral College, in Queens, New York, and St. Joseph's Seminary, in Yonkers, New York. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 4, 1949. He then did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of New York until 1953, and served as a Navy chaplain from 1953 to 1977,including chaplain of the Catholic Church on the navy base in Yokosuka, Japan 1959-61 receiving the National Defense Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, China Service Medal, and Legion of Merit. In 1962 he earned a Master's degree in religious education from the Catholic University of America. Retiring from the Navy in 1977 with the rank of captain, he was chancellor of the Archdiocese for the Military Services from 1977 to 1983.
On March 29, 1983 Dimino was appointed Auxiliary Bishop for the Military Services and Titular Bishop of Hyccarum by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 10 from Cardinal Terence Cooke, with Archbishop Joseph Thomas Ryan and Bishop Louis Edward Gelineau serving as co-consecrators. Following Archbishop Ryan's retirement on May 14, 1991, Dimino succeeded him as the second Archbishop for the Military Services. In this position, he served as the spiritual leader for more than one million U.S. Catholics of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Department of Veterans Affairs and those in government service overseas, and their dependents. In January 1993 he expressed his opposition to allowing homosexuals to serve in the military to President Bill Clinton, saying that admitting homosexuals would have "disastrous consequences for all concerned." Dimino resigned as archbishop for health reasons on August 12, 1997.
