John S. Cummins was the second bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, serving from 1977 to 2003. Born in 1928 in Oakland to Irish immigrants, Cummins was raised in Berkeley and attended St. Joseph’s College in Mountainview for minor seminary, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1947. He went on to complete his master of divinity degree in 1953 at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, and he was ordained to the priesthood at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. He served his first assignment in San Francisco, and in 1962, he was appointed as chancellor of the newly created Oakland diocese. As chancellor, he also served as the diocesan liaison to the Catholic theological schools of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. As bishop of the Oakland diocese, he was involved in the early planning stages of what would become the Cathedral of Christ the Light. In this donated interview, Cummins discusses his observations of the Second Vatican Council; diversity and social justice issues locally and worldwide; changes in practice and policy within the Catholic Church; Catholic education and campus ministry; clergy sexual abuse; origins of the Graduate Theological Union and its relationship with the University of California, Berkeley; the pastoral role of bishops; and his Catholic faith.