Victor Reed was born in Montpelier, Indiana, to Victor Larue and Henrietta Mary (née Collins) Reed.[1] His father, a Protestant who moved to Indiana from Pennsylvania, worked in the oil industry and converted to Catholicism shortly before his marriage.[2] His mother was born in Canada to Irish immigrants from County Clare.[2] The eldest of five children, he had one sister, Mary Veronica; and three brothers, Collins Gerard, John Joseph, and Paul Joseph.[2] In 1910, Reed and his family moved to Bald Hill, Oklahoma, on account of his father's work.[2] They later moved to Mounds in 1912.[2] That same year, at age seven, Reed entered St. Joseph's College in Muskogee, a boys' high school run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.[1]
Reed's 13-year-long administration was a period of transition and turmoil for the diocese.[5] Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council.[1] He associated himself with the progressive wing of bishops at the Council, lending his support to the use of vernacular in the Mass and to an emphasis of pastoral over administrative skills in bishops.[2] When he returned to Oklahoma, his attempts to implement the Council's reforms were met with both support and opposition.[5] In 1966, Traditionalist Catholics picketed his residence and called for his removal, accusing Reed of following "un-Catholic" policies and participating in a "worldwide atheistic conspiracy for world domination" led by communists.[6]
^ abcdefghijBonner, Jeremy (2008). The Road to Renewal: Victor Joseph Reed & Oklahoma Catholicism, 1905-1971. The Catholic University of America Press.
^ abcdefCurtis, Georgina Pell (1961). The American Catholic Who's Who. Vol. XIV. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.