Rev. James Matthews, a longtime leader in the Oakland Catholic community, died suddenly on Saturday night of an apparent heart attack. He was 70 years old.

According to church officials, Matthews was found unresponsive at the Cathedral of Christ the Light around 7 p.m. and taken to Alta Bates Summit hospital. A church spokeswoman did not know if he died at the hospital or before arriving.

Known as "Father Jay," Matthews had served as the rector of the cathedral — the seat of Diocese of Oakland — since 2015. But it was his 26 years as pastor at the predominantly African American St. Benedict Catholic Church in East Oakland that cemented his reputation as one of the city's religious and community leaders.

"He was Mr. Oakland," said Rev. Jayson Landeza, who knew Matthews for 30 years and succeeded him as pastor at St. Benedict. "He had a real sense of the pulse of East Oakland and particularly the African American religious community."

Matthews was born in Berkeley and raised in East Oakland in the same parish that he would one day lead for more than a quarter century. He graduated from Skyline High School in Oakland before entering the seminary in 1966. In 1974, he became the first African American to be ordained in Northern California.