Francis John McConnell

Who was Francis John McConnell?

Francis John McConnell was an American social reformer and a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1912.

Born on August 18, 1871, in Trinway, Ohio, he died on August 18, 1953, in Lucasville, Ohio.

McConnell was a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University and the Boston University School of Theology. He was an ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years, serving among other places a large church in Brooklyn, New York.

Before election to the episcopacy, McConnell served as the president of DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, 1909-1912. During his presidency he led the university's first major fund drive, the Campaign for the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Fund, which produced a total subscription of $550,546.

McConnell is best known for his quote "We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us".