Retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan is a renowned and respected national leader in Catholic social services whose work in that ministry for over four decades has contributed substantially to Brooklyn Catholic Charities' rankin as the largest Catholic human service agency in the country.

Equally astute in health care needs and issues, he played an instrumental role in the formation of St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers, which joined the hospitals and related facilities of the Diocese with similar institutions conducted by the New York Sisters of Charity.

Within the Brooklyn Diocese, Bishop Sullivan held the titles of Vicar for Human Services and Regional Bishop for the 62 parishes of the Brooklyn West Vicariate.

Born March 23, 1930, one of 11 children of the late Thomas and Margaret Sullivan, who lived in Bay Ridge, Bishop Sullivan attended St. Ephrem's School and St. Michael's Diocesan High School, both in Brooklyn, and Manhattan College.

In l950 he began studies for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, L.I., and was ordained June 2, 1956, by Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy in St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn.

After a three-year period as a newly-ordained priest at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Queens Village, he was assigned to study social work and in l961 he earned a master's degree from the Fordham University School of Social Work.

In that same year he was appointed assistant director of Catholic Charities' child care division and four years later was named the director.

When Bishop Francis J. Mugavero became the Diocesan Bishop in l968, he chose then–Father Sullivan to succeed him as the executive director of Catholic Charities and appointed him Secretary to the Ordinary for Charities. He was elected executive vice-president of the board of trustees of Catholic Charities in l979.

In the following year, on Oct. 7, 1980, he was one of three Brooklyn priests named Auxiliary Bishops by Pope John Paul II. The others were Msgr. Anthony J. Bevilacqua and Father Rene A. Valero. Bishop–elect Sullivan was also given the title of Titular Bishop of Suliana.

Late the following month, on Nov. 24, the episcopal ordination of the three new bishops took place in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Bay Ridge, with Bishop Mugavero as the ordaining bishop and Auxiliary Bishop Charles R. Mulrooney and Bishop John J. Snyder of St. Augustine assisting.

Over the years, Bishop Sullivan, who has a master's in public administration from New York University, has served on numerous Church and civic boards concerned with health and human services on the national, State and local levels. These have included the chairmanship of the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens and membership on the board of Catholic Charities USA.

Also included in his activities outside the Diocese has been his service as chairman of the Social Development and World Peace Department of the United States Catholic Conference.

In the late 1990s he chaired an ad hoc committee that produced a pastoral letter on charity — "In All Things Charity: A Pastoral Challenge for the New Millennium" — approved by the U.S. bishops in November, 1999. He said the message was intended "to reclaim the meaning of charity," which he said had become a pejorative term in modern society.

Before entering Manhattan College in l948, Bishop Sullivan spent a Summer in Georgia pitching for the Americus Phillies of the Georgia–Florida League. Despite his affection for the game, he told a reporter that it was "a boring life," opting instead for higher education and eventually the priesthood.