Province of oklahoma city

Pope Paul VI established the Province of Oklahoma City in 1972. The Province consists of the States of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and includes the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of Little Rock, and the Diocese of Tulsa. The Province has 325,000 Catholics, 5 percent of the total population. The Province has the third lowest number of Catholics of the 32 U.S. provinces and the second lowest percentage of Catholics. The Province had 239,000 Catholics in 2000, or 3.8 percent of the total population.

Map of the Province

Oklahoma 

Catholic History of Oklahoma 

Spanish (De Soto and Coronado) and French (La Salle) explorers visited what is now Oklahoma, usually accompanied by missionaries, as early as 1540, but there were few Catholics among the native Americans and the few white pioneers until the U.S. Government opened Oklahoma for white settlement in 1889. Fathers Michael and Lawrence Smyth, brothers from Fort Smith, Arkansas, started construction of the first Catholic church in Oklahoma—St. Patrick’s in Atoka in 1872. The man most responsible for bringing Catholicism to Oklahoma was Father Isidore Robot, a French Benedictine monk. Father Robot came to Atoka, accompanied by Brother Dominic Lambert in 1875 and completed St. Patrick’s church. He was named Prefect Apostolic for the Indian Territory in 1877 and in 1880 he founded Sacred Heart Abbey and mission in 1875 in what was then Potawatomi Indian territory and near what is now Konawa, Oklahoma. The Benedictines at the abbey founded over 40 parishes and missions in Oklahoma before the abbey was consolidated with St. Gregory’s Abbey in Shawnee in 1929. The missionaries had some success with bringing the Faith to the Native Americans, especially the Osage, Potawatomi, and Choctaw tribes.

Father Robot died in 1887 and was succeeded as Prefect Apostolic by another Benedictine priest, Ignatius Jean, who resigned in 1890. The following year Pope Leo XIII created the Vicar Apostolic of the Oklahoma and Indian Territory to serve the Territory’s 5,000 Catholics. In 1905—two years before Oklahoma became a state—Pope Pius X created the Diocese of Oklahoma. By 1910, there were over 30,000 Catholics in the new state—many Irish Catholics from Pennsylvania had come to Oklahoma after large oil reservoirs were discovered. In 1930, the name of the diocese was changed to the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Pope Paul VI created the Province of Oklahoma City in 1972 which raised Oklahoma City to the rank of an Archdiocese. The Province consisted of the Archdiocese, the Diocese of Little Rock, and the newly created Diocese of Tulsa.

Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City consists of 46 counties in central and western Oklahoma. The archdiocese has 116,000 Catholics (5 percent of the total population) in 64 parishes.

Bishop of Oklahoma

Theophile Meerschaert (1847-1924), Vicar Apostolic of the Oklahoma and Indian Territory (1891-1905) and first Bishop of Oklahoma (1905-1924).

• Born in Belgium and ordained a priest in Europe in 1871.

When Meerschaert was appointed Vicar Apostolic, he found 21 churches and a dozen schools served by three diocesan priests and two dozen Benedictine priests. Finding enough priests to serve Oklahoma Catholics was difficult and Bishop Meerschaert made 11 trips to Europe to recruit priests for the Diocese. Meerschaert became the first Bishop of Oklahoma in 1905 and by the time of his death in 1924, he had managed to increase the number of churches in the Diocese to almost 130. Oklahoma passed a law in 1917 that made importation of alcoholic beverages illegal—it was already illegal to manufacture such beverages. Bishop Meerschaert sued the State citing infringement of religion and the State Supreme Court agreed with the Diocese in 1918.

Bishops of Oklahoma City and Tulsa

Francis C. Kelley (1870-1948), Bishop of Oklahoma (1924-1930) and first Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa (1930-1948).

• Born in Canada and ordained a priest in 1893 for the Diocese of Detroit.

Bishop Kelley had accomplished much prior to becoming Bishop. He was an accomplished writer (he wrote 17 books) and speaker who had served as a Vatican diplomat. (He was a leader in the negotiations that resulted in the creation of Vatican City as a separate nation.) He also founded the Catholic Church Extension Society in 1905 and served as its president. As Bishop, he was a strong evangelist and used the recently invented radio to spread the Faith. He also struggled to keep the Diocese financially afloat during the Great Depression. He fought the Ku Klux Klan and strongly supported the Boy Scouts program—serving as chair of the U.S. Bishops’ committee on scouting. During Kelley’s time as bishop, the recently built Our Lady of Perpetual Help church became the Cathedral for the diocese. Bishop Kelley died in 1948.

Eugene J. McGuinness (1889-1957), Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa (1948-1957).

• Born in Pennsylvania and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1915.
• Also served as Bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina (1937-1944) and coadjutor bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa (1944-1948).

Bishop McGuinness became Bishop upon the death of Bishop Kelley. McGuinness served a relatively short time, but he greatly increased the number of priests (by recruiting in Ireland and Poland) and also by establishing a seminary to train Americans for the priesthood. He opened many new parishes in the Diocese to keep up with the 40 percent increase in the number of Catholics. There were 93,000 Oklahoma Catholics at the time of his death in 1957.

Victor J. Reed (1905-1971), Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa (1958-1971).

• Born in Indiana, raised in Oklahoma, and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa in 1929.

Reed became Bishop shortly before the Second Vatican Council and he oversaw the subsequent changes made in the Church. He encouraged liturgical reform, including the use of English at Mass, and greater lay participation in church business. He favored civil rights for African-Americans and was the first Catholic bishop to protest the Vietnam War in 1967. He also held a Diocesan council in 1966—the first such council after the Second Vatican Council. Reed died of a heart attack in 1971.

Archbishops of Oklahoma City

John R. Quinn (1929- ), Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa (1971-1972), first Archbishop of Oklahoma City (1972-1977).

• Born in California and ordained a priest in 1953 for the Diocese of San Diego.
• Also served as auxiliary bishop of San Diego (1967-1971) and Archbishop of San Francisco (1977-1995).

Archbishop Quinn visited almost every church in Oklahoma during his first two years as bishop. Archbishop Quinn also reestablished a newspaper for the Archdiocese and improved pastoral care for Spanish-speaking Catholics. He was appointed Archbishop of San Francisco in 1977.

Charles A. Salatka (1918-2003), Archbishop of Oklahoma City (1977-1992).

• Born in Michigan and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945.
• Also served as auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Grand Rapids—the first Lithuanian-American to be ordained a bishop in the United States (1962-1968) and Bishop of Marquette, Michigan (1968-1977).

Archbishop Salatka sought to address the needs of immigrant Catholics, including Hispanics (he learned to speak Spanish at the age of 68) and Vietnamese. He embraced the RENEW program and strengthened Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese. He retired in 1992.

Eusebius J. Beltran (1934- ), Archbishop of Oklahoma City (1992-2010).

• Born in Pennsylvania and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Atlanta in 1960.
• Also served as Bishop of Tulsa (1978-1992).

Archbishop Beltran served for many years as a priest for the Diocese of Atlanta. While there, he participated in marches for equal rights in Alabama during the 1960s and reinvigorated an inner-city parish in Atlanta. As Archbishop, he ministered to the people of Oklahoma City during the days following the terrorist attack in 1995 and he worked to protect the unborn and better serve the needy. He promoted Catholic education and tried to make it affordable to all Catholic children. He retired in 2010.

Current Archbishop

Paul S. Coakley was appointed Archbishop of Oklahoma City by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. He was born in Virginia in 1955 and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, in 1983. He previously served as director of spiritual formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland and as Bishop of Salina, Kansas (2004-2010).

The Cathedral

Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
3214 Lake Avenue
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118-5698

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is one of the titles of our Blessed Mother. A painting of Mary holding the child Jesus was created by an unknown artist around 1400 A.D. It was venerated as Our Lady of Perpetual Help from about 1500 to 1819. Because of war and neglect the painting was hidden away until being rediscovered in the 1860s. In 1865, Pope Pius IX directed the Redemptorist Order to “Make her known throughout the world.” The painting is now in the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. The memorial of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is on June 27.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us your Mother Mary, whose renowned image we venerate, to be a Mother ever ready to help us; grant we beseech You, that we who constantly implore her motherly aid, may merit to enjoy perpetually the fruits of Your redemption, Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

When Bishop Theophile Meerschaert first came to Oklahoma in 1891, he established St. Mary’s Catholic church in Guthrie as his Cathedral church—Guthrie was the territorial capital and became the first state capital of Oklahoma in 1907. (Oklahoma City became the capital in 1910.). When the Diocese of Oklahoma was created in 1905, St. Joseph’s church (307 N.W. 4th Street) in Oklahoma City became the Diocese’s Cathedral church. (St. Joseph’s is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.) Bishop Meerschaert established Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in 1919 and oversaw the construction of a church and school for the parish. The church was completed in 1924 and became the Cathedral church for the Diocese in 1931.

The Cathedral is built with red bricks in the Italianate architectural style and has a bell tower. Renovations in 1993 added a new baptistery and pipe organ. The Cathedral also has at least a dozen stained glass windows that are described on the parish website at cathedralokc.org. The cathedral seats 1,000 people. Additional information about the Archdiocese can be found at archokc.org.

The Cathedral is located about two miles north of downtown Oklahoma City and has four weekend masses—including one in Vietnamese—to serve a parish of 2,000 families. The parish elementary school enrolls almost 200 children.

The exterior picture is from Wikipedia. The others are from the Cathedral website.

Diocese of Tulsa

The diocese consists of 31 counties in eastern Oklahoma. The diocese has 65,000 Catholics (4 percent of the total population) in 77 parishes.

 

Bishops of Tulsa

Bernard J. Ganter (1928-1993), first Bishop of Tulsa (1972-1977).

• Born in Texas and ordained a priest in 1952 for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston.
• Also served as Bishop of Beaumont, Texas (1977-1993).

Upon his appointment by Pope Paul VI, Bishop Ganter began organizing the new Diocese. He appointed the first permanent deacons in the Diocese. He also established resettlement programs and ministries to meet the needs of thousands of Vietnamese who came to Oklahoma after 1975. He was named Bishop of Beaumont, Texas, in 1977.

Eusebius J. Beltran (1934- ), Bishop of Tulsa (1978-1992).

• Born in Pennsylvania and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Atlanta in 1960.
• Also served as Archbishop of Oklahoma City (1992-2010).

Bishop Beltran established a foundation to address the financial needs of the diocese and he supported Catholic Charities so that the needs of unwed mothers, people suffering from AIDS or homelessness, and others in need, could be addressed. He ordained 32 priests and 47 permanent deacons during his time as Bishop. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II to be Archbishop of Oklahoma City in 1992.

Edward J. Slattery (1940- ), Bishop of Tulsa (1993-2016).

• Born in Illinois and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1966.
• He previously served president of the Catholic Church Extension Society (1976 to 1994).

I was not able to find much on Bishop Slattery, other than on Wikipedia. According to that source, Bishop Slattery was strongly pro-life and opposed strict anti-immigration laws. He also celebrated Mass facing the same direction as the congregation. Bishop Slattery retired in 2016.

Current Bishop

David A. Konderla was appointed Bishop of Tulsa by Pope Francis in 2016. He was born in Texas in 1960 and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Austin, Texas, in 1995. He most recently served as pastor of the Catholic student center at Texas A&M University.

The Cathedral

Holy Family Cathedral
122 W. 8th St.
Tulsa Oklahoma 74101

The Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph serve as a model for all families. The feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, bless us and grant us the grace to profess openly as we ought the faith given to us in Baptism, without fear or human respect.

The first Holy Family Church was completed in 1899 and was located near 3rd and Frankfort streets—it was the first Catholic church in Tulsa. Tulsa Catholics soon realized that the small wooden church was inadequate to their needs. The current church was completed in 1914 at a cost of $50,000. In 1930, when the Diocese of Oklahoma became the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Holy Family became a co-cathedral for the Diocese. When the Diocese of Tulsa was created by Pope Pius VI in 1972, Holy Family became the cathedral church for the new diocese. The Cathedral has undergone several renovations over the years, including the most recent, starting in 2005. The Cathedral was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The Cathedral features three towers dedicated to the Holy Trinity—the tallest at 251 feet was the tallest structure in Tulsa at the time of its construction. The exterior of the Cathedral, made mostly of brick, is of the French Gothic architectural style. The Cathedral features 39 stained glass windows—10 depicting the life of Christ, 12 depicting the Apostles, and 17 others depicting various saints and religious concepts. The Cathedral’s main altar and two side altars are made from scagliola, a material found in Egypt and carved by artisans in Europe. The main altar features Jesus on the cross surrounded by his Mother, Mary Magdalene, John the Apostle, and several angels. The side altars are dedicated to Mary as Queen of Heaven, and to Saint Joseph. The 14 Stations of the Cross are made from the same material as the altars and are recessed into the Cathedral’s walls. The Cathedral also features an Austin pipe organ installed in 1984 and a crucifix near the front of the Cathedral that hung in the 1899 church.

See the Cathedral website for more detail—holyfamilycathedralparish.com. Also refer to the Diocesan website, dioceseoftulsa.org. The pictures are from the Cathedral website.

The Cathedral is located in downtown Tulsa and has five weekend masses to serve 2000 parishioners. The parish elementary school enrolls over 100 students.

Arkansas

Catholic History of Arkansas

The first Catholics to visit what is now Arkansas were Spanish explorers led by Hernando de Soto, accompanied by Spanish priests, in 1541. Over 100 years later, French explorer, Louis Joliet, accompanied by Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit priest, came to the mouth of the Arkansas River in 1673. Henri de Tonti, another French explorer, founded Arkansas Post, the first European settlement, in 1686 on the Arkansas River about 30 miles from the river’s mouth. European settlers were few, however, and by 1803—when Arkansas became part of the United States—there were only about 400 such settlers within the state. Catholic missionaries, such as Father Nicholas Foucault, had visited the Native Americans since the time of de Soto and won a few converts. Priests from New Orleans and St. Louis made periodic visits to the few Catholics throughout the first 40 years of the 19th Century. The first Catholic school in Arkansas was founded in 1838 at St. Mary’s mission, near Pine Bluff.

The 1840 census, taken four years after Arkansas became a State, found that Arkansas had about 100,000 people. Washington County was the largest county with a population of about 7,000, followed by Pulaski and Hempstead Counties with about 5,000 people each. Pope Gregory XVI created the Diocese of Little Rock in 1843, which at the time consisted of Arkansas and the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The following year, when the first Bishop of Little Rock, Andrew Byrne, arrived in Arkansas, he found less than 1,000 Catholics spread throughout the State and served by two Catholic churches. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII created the Vicarate Apostolic of the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, and the Diocese of Little Rock and the State of Arkansas shared the same boundaries.

Diocese of Little Rock

The diocese consists of the State of Arkansas. The diocese has 145,000 Catholics (5 percent of the total population) in 89 parishes.

Bishops of Little Rock

Andrew J. Byrne (1802-1862), first Bishop of Little Rock (1843-1862). 

• Born in Ireland and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1827.

The new Diocese of Little Rock included Arkansas and what is now Oklahoma and served less than a thousand Catholics in a frontier state whose people were often hostile to Catholics. While never having more than 10 priests, Bishop Byrne was able to build a few new parishes, a dozen schools, and more than two dozen missions. He also oversaw the construction of the first Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock in 1845. Byrne established a colony of Irish families in Fort Smith in 1849, but it was eventually unsuccessful. He also brought the Religious Sisters of Mercy from Ireland to establish Mount St. Mary Academy in 1851—the oldest educational institution in Arkansas. He died in 1862.

Edward M. Fitzgerald (1833-1907), Bishop of Little Rock (1866-1907).

• Born in Ireland, came to the United States in 1849, and ordained a priest in 1857 for Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Bishop Fitzgerald was appointed Bishop at the age of 33—the youngest bishop in the Unites States at that time. He sought to improve the fortunes of a war-torn diocese with a few thousand Catholics in nine churches served by half a dozen priests, by recruiting priests and lay people from Europe. Germans came to Logan, Conway, and Perry Counties, Poles to Little Rock, and Italians settled in the far northwestern corner of the state and in Little Rock. Bishop Fitzgerald voted against the doctrine of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council in 1870—one of only two bishops to do so—because of fears that it would hinder evangelization in Arkansas. He also established four Catholic hospitals (including St. Vincent’s in Little Rock) and many parishes and schools and, in 1881, dedicated the current Cathedral of St. Andrew. He established an African-American parish in Pine Bluff in 1895. A stroke left him paralyzed in 1900, but he served as Bishop until his death in 1907. At the time of his death, there were 20,000 Catholics in the Diocese, served by 41 parishes, 33 missions, 60 priests, and 272 religious sisters. He is one of 19 U.S. bishops to serve 40 or more years as bishop of a single diocese.

John B. Morris (1866-1946), Bishop of Little Rock (1907-1946).

• Born in Tennessee and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Nashville in 1892.
• Also served as coadjutor bishop of Little Rock (1906-1907).

Bishop Morris established a seminary which helped increase the number of priests in the Diocese from 60 to 154. He also greatly increased the number of churches, schools, and hospitals—helped by a quadrupling of the number of nuns in the Diocese. Morris founded several diocesan institutions including a diocesan newspaper (now called the Arkansas Catholic), a training school for Catholic teachers, a Catholic high school, and several churches for African Americans. Bishop Morris accomplished much despite serving at a time of great anti-Catholic sentiment in Arkansas. He was also one of the first Americans to publicly attack Nazism and anti-Semitism. Morris relinquished active governance of the diocese for the last seven years of his life due to illness. He died in 1946 at which time the Diocese had 33,000 Catholics and 125 churches.

Albert Fletcher (1896-1979), Bishop of Little Rock (1946-1972).

• Born in Little Rock and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Little Rock in 1920.

Bishop Fletcher was the first native Arkansan to become a Catholic bishop. He fought racial segregation of African Americans and of Japanese Americans detained in camps in Arkansas. He opposed Governor Orval Faubus’ attempts to avoid integration of Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. Catholic hospitals in the Diocese were integrated by 1959 and Catholic schools followed a few years later. He attended the Second Vatican Council and had nine suggestions accepted by the Council. He supported the Vietnam War and closed St. John’s Seminary after faculty questioned the Church’s teaching about birth control. He retired in 1972.

Andrew J. McDonald (1923-2014), Bishop of Little Rock (1972-2000).

• Born in Savannah, Georgia, and ordained a priest in 1948 for the Diocese of Savannah.

Bishop McDonald was the 11th of 12 children in his Georgia family. He worked to improve ecumenical relations with other churches to the point of encouraging attendance at a Billy Graham Crusade in Little Rock. He also sought to increase the role of the laity through the permanent diaconate program, and the Worldwide Marriage Encounter, Cursillo, and Pre-Cana programs, among others. He also encouraged the development of the Little Rock Scripture Study program. He created ministries for immigrants from Latin America and Southeast Asia and was a Pro-life advocate. He opposed capital punishment and invited Mother Teresa to establish a ministry in Little Rock. Bishop McDonald retired in 2000.

James P. Sartain (1952- ), Bishop of Little Rock (2000-2006).

• Born in Memphis and ordained a priest in 1978 for the Diocese of Memphis.
• Also served as Bishop of Joliet, Illinois (2006-2010) and serves as Archbishop of Seattle (since 2010).

Bishop Sartain sought to increase religious vocations in the Diocese and worked to improve the Diocese’s ministry to Hispanic Catholics by creating new parishes for Hispanics. He learned to speak Spanish to better serve this community and encouraged his priests to do so as well. He emphasized the need for immigration reform and was noted for his communication skills and religious devotion. He encouraged the priests and religious of the Diocese to deepen their relationship to God. The number of Catholics increased from 91,000 to 107,000 during his time as Bishop. He was named Bishop of Joliet, Illinois, in 2006.

Current Bishop

Anthony B. Taylor was appointed Bishop of Little Rock by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. He was born in Texas in 1954 and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City in 1980. He previously served in several capacities with the Archdiocese.

The Cathedral

The Cathedral of St. Andrew
617 Louisiana St.
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201

St. Andrew was one of the twelve Apostles and the brother of St. Peter. After the Resurrection, he is thought to have performed missionary work in Asia Minor and Greece. He was crucified in Greece around 70 A.D. He is the patron saint of Scotland, Greece, Russia, and of sailors and fishermen. His feast day is November 30.

O glorious St. Andrew, you were the first to recognize and follow the Lamb of God. With your friend, St. John, you remained with Jesus for that first day, for your entire life, and now throughout eternity. As you led your brother, St. Peter, to Christ and many others after him, draw us also to Him. Teach us to lead others to Christ solely out of love for Him and dedication in His service. Help us to learn the lesson of the Cross and to carry our daily crosses without complaint so that they may carry us to Jesus. Amen.

Bishop Andrew Byrne, the first Bishop of Little Rock, arrived in his see city in 1844 and found one Catholic church, St. Joseph’s, also known as the Old French Church. St. Joseph’s had been built in 1839 and was located across Louisiana Street from the site of the current Cathedral. Bishop Byrne authorized the construction of his cathedral church—to be called the Cathedral of St. Andrew. The Cathedral was dedicated to the St. Andrew the Apostle and honored Bishop Byrne. This first cathedral was located at 2nd and Center Streets and completed in 1845. The Cathedral’s congregation consisted of fewer than 100 people. As the Catholic population of Little Rock grew (there would be six Catholic churches in Little Rock by 1900) the Cathedral’s congregation—numbering about 1,500—had outgrown its building. Bishop Fitzgerald undertook construction of the current Cathedral in 1878. It was completed in 1881 at a cost of $470,000.

The Cathedral was designed by Thomas Harding of Little Rock is built of local Fourche granite in the English Gothic architectural style. There are two towers and the largest rises 231 feet above the street. Bishop Fitzgerald had work stopped on this tower until Little Rock’s Masonic Temple was completed so that the Cathedral's steeple would be taller. One enters the Cathedral through bronze doors made in Italy and weighing 500 pounds each. The Cathedral’s roof is supported by twelve pillars symbolic of the twelve apostles. The stained glass windows were made by Mayer of Munich and almost all are original. The Stations of the Cross were designed for Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, but were shipped to Little Rock instead and the mistake was never corrected. The Cathedral contains a crypt where Little Rock’s deceased bishops are buried. The organ was renovated in 1992 and now features over 3,775 pipes and 67 ranks. The Cathedral is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The Diocesan website is dolr.org and the cathedral website is csalr.org. The pictures come from the Cathedral website.

The Cathedral is located in downtown Little Rock and has four weekend masses.

General comments

You may ask if I have noted similarities or trends in cathedrals. Cathedrals tend to be the oldest or one of the oldest parishes in the city. About 7 percent of the cathedral parishes were established in the 17th or 18th centuries and 63 percent in the 19th Century. So it follows that 85 percent of the cathedral parishes are located in the downtown area of the city. It also seems that almost all of the cathedrals built in the late 19th or early 20th centuries have Stations of the Cross that were made in Germany, primarily in Munich.

Readers of this blog will frequently see the name of Patrick Charles Keely (1816—1896). Keely built and designed hundreds of Catholic churches and Catholic institutional buildings (and a few Protestant churches) during his life. Keely was born in Ireland and settled in Brooklyn in 1842. He befriended a priest, Father Sylvester Malone, who was tasked with building a new church near the Brooklyn waterfront. Keely built and designed the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1847. (It was torn down in 1957.)

This Gothic church attracted such attention that Keely soon became the leading architect for Catholic churches in the United States. Most of his churches are in New York and New England, but he also designed churches as far west as Wisconsin and as far south as Louisiana. His churches were built in 18 states, the District of Columbia (St. Dominic’s), and Canada. Sources claim that he designed between 16 and 21 cathedrals—I have been able to identify 19. Of these 19, 16 remain today as cathedrals. Two, including the cathedrals in Hartford, Connecticut; and Burlington, Vermont; (shown below) burned down and have been replaced.

(The three pictures are from parish websites.)

Keely’s cathedral in Charleston, South Carolina, also burned down, but he designed the current Cathedral as well. The old cathedral in Rochester, New York, was torn down to make room for an expansion of Kodak headquarters. Of the 11 dioceses in New England today, 7 have Keely-designed cathedrals and Hartford and Burlington did before they burned down. Other notable Keely churches include St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (partially) in Notre Dame, Indiana, Corpus Christi Church in Baltimore, the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Canton, Ohio, and St. Mary Church in Newport, Rhode Island (where John F. Kennedy wed Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953). 

Churches, and especially cathedrals, are not built just for function or architectural beauty. Often there is Christian symbolism throughout the building. For example, many churches are built in the form of a cross to commemorate our redemption through the death of Jesus. Churches are often oriented to the East toward Jerusalem. Stained glass windows almost always show scenes from the Bible, the life of Christ, or from the lives of the saints. Light is often used to represent our entering into the Light of Christ. Some cathedral websites talk about the symbolism in depth and I will point that out so that those of you who find this interesting can go to the cathedral's website.

I also want to note that cathedral websites frequently have few if any pictures of the cathedral, oddly enough. There are always pictures on the internet, but often they only include exterior pictures or pictures of the interior as a whole. It is hard to find pictures of details like stained glass windows, stations of the cross, murals, or statues, unless they are on the Cathedral’s website or I took them during a visit.

Province of WASHINGTON

Pope Pius XI established the Province of Washington in 1939.  The Province consists of the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  The Province has 669,000 Catholics, 22 percent of the total population.  In 2000, the Province had 540,000 Catholics or 22 percent of the total population.

Catholic History of Maryland and Washington, DC

Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, converted to Catholicism in 1625.  He dreamed of an English colony in the New World where Catholics could practice their faith without hindrance.  He did not live to see it, but his son, Cecilius, the second Lord Baltimore, did.  King Charles I, a Protestant, granted Cecilius Calvert proprietorship of the Maryland colony—named after Charles’ Catholic queen, Henrietta Maria—in 1632.  (Or perhaps for the Blessed Mother, depending on who you ask.)  Calvert came to Maryland to secure his property, accompanied by Father Andrew White, who said the first Mass in Maryland on March 25, 1634.  The original colonists consisted of about 20 “gentlemen,” mostly Catholic, and about 250 craftsmen and laborers, mostly Protestant.  At a time when Catholics and Protestants in England rarely got along, this was a noble experiment.

The good will that existed in Maryland between the religions would wax and wane.  Virginia Protestants attacked St. Mary’s City, the Maryland capital, in 1644, forcing Calvert and many of his Catholic colonists to flee.  Calvert later regained control and in 1649, the Maryland legislature enacted the Act Concerning Religion, the first time a government had permitted freedom of worship.  The following year, Puritans, who had been allowed by the Maryland colony to escape persecution in Virginia and to establish a town (now Annapolis), gained control of Maryland and began to persecute Catholics and Anglicans.  The Puritan government, supported by Oliver Cromwell’s rule in England, repealed the Act Concerning Religion in 1654.  Lord Baltimore once again gained control of the colony in 1658 and the Act Concerning Religion was restored.

Maryland Catholics enjoyed religious freedom for the next four decades, but this ended in 1689 with the reign of William and Mary in England.  Laws were made that prohibited Catholics from voting, from holding public office, or practicing their Faith, and priests were not allowed to exercise their sacred duties, although these laws were not always enforced and Catholics were usually allowed to attend Mass in their homes or in homes owned by priests.  The Catholic population, served by a small number of Jesuit priests, increased from 5,000 in 1670 to 12,000 in 1770.  The American Revolution finally brought lasting freedom of religion for all Americans in the former English colonies.  John Carroll, a Maryland priest, was named by Pope Pius VI to be the first Bishop of Baltimore in 1789 and Pope Pius VII named Carroll the first U.S. archbishop in 1808.

Washington D.C. was created in 1790 from portions of Maryland.  The rich history of Catholicism in Maryland carried over to the new nation’s capital.  A large portion of the new District—including the location for the Capitol—was obtained from Daniel Carroll and Notley Young, relatives of Archbishop John Carroll.  Many of Washington’s early local leaders were Catholic, including Robert Brent, the first mayor, William Kilty, the first chief judge for the district court, Captain Thomas Tingey, the first commandant of the Navy Yard, and James Hoben, architect of the White House.

Many of these prominent Catholics were English and they mixed well with the Protestant gentry—many of the prominent Washington families had both Catholic and Protestant branches.  It was in part because of this good will that Washington did not experience the same problems that other cities did during the nativist reaction to increased immigration—especially from Ireland.  Washington had attracted a number of Irish and German immigrants in the decades leading up to the Civil War and a nativist party—the Know Nothings—did gain control of the local government during the 1850s.  But their time in power was brief.

Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown was the first parish in the District of Columbia—it was established in 1787--three years before the District was established.  St. Patrick’s Church was founded in 1794—the first Catholic church in Washington.  (Washington and Georgetown were separate towns at that time.)  During Washington’s early years, local Catholic leaders hoped that someday Washington would have its own bishop and a location was set aside in 1801—Cathedral Square (now the site of St. Vincent de Paul Church on South Capitol Street)—for a cathedral church.  This was carried further when a new church was dedicated in 1895 for St. Matthew’s parish—a building no doubt meant to be a cathedral for some future bishop.

Nevertheless, despite being the nation’s capital, Washington remained part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore until 1939 when the Archdiocese of Washington was created, originally consisting of only the District of Columbia.  The new Archbishop of Washington was Michael Curley, who was also the Archbishop of Baltimore.  St. Matthew’s became the Cathedral church for the new archdiocese.  Washington did not get its own Archbishop until Curley died in 1947 and Pope Pius XII appointed Patrick O’Boyle to be the first resident archbishop.  At that time, the Archdiocese assumed its present territory of the District of Columbia and five Maryland counties.  The Archdiocese of Washington is one of only four U.S. archdioceses established without first being a diocese.

Archdiocese of Washington

The Archdiocese of Washington consists of the District of Columbia and 5 counties in Maryland. The archdiocese has 639,000 Catholics (22 percent of the total population) in 139 parishes.

Map of the Archdiocese

Archbishops of Washington

Michael J. Curley (1879-1947), first and only Archbishop of Baltimore and Washington (1939-1947). 

·         Born in Ireland and ordained a priest for the Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida, in 1904.

·         Also served as Bishop of St. Augustine (1914-1921) and Archbishop of Baltimore (1921-1939).

Curley had led the Archdiocese of Baltimore for 18 years, when, in 1939, part of the Baltimore archdiocese was formed into the new Archdiocese of Washington, and Curley was made Archbishop of both Archdioceses.  He was never enthusiastic about this split, but he obeyed the decision of Pope Pius XII.  Archbishop Curley died in 1947.

Patrick A. O’Boyle (1896-1987), Archbishop of Washington (1948-1973). 

·         Born in Pennsylvania and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York in 1921.

·         He was named a Cardinal by Pope Pius VI in 1967.

 Washington received its own Archbishop in the person of Patrick O’Boyle, who had directed the Catholic bishops’ war relief efforts during World War II.  This was a time of demographic change in the country and Cardinal O’Boyle established 50 new parishes to care for the large number of Catholics coming to the Washington area after the war and those moving from Washington to the suburbs.  He also opened facilities for the disadvantaged.  O’Boyle was not afraid to tackle difficult issues.  He began integration of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese well before the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation in 1954.  He also disciplined about 40 priests who disagreed with Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on birth control—some of whom left the priesthood.  He retired in 1973. 

William W. Baum (1926-2015), Archbishop of Washington (1973-1980). 

·         Born in Texas and ordained a priest in 1951 for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri.

·         Also served as Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri (1970-1973),  Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education (1980-1990), and the Vatican’s Major Penitentiary (1990-2001).  He was named a Cardinal in 1976 by Pope Paul VI. 

Cardinal Baum created archdiocesan secretariats for Black Catholics and Hispanic Catholics and established six suburban parishes.  He hosted Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Nation’s Capital in 1979.  He left Washington in 1980 to become the Vatican’s Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.  At that time, the Archdiocese had 396,000 Catholics.  

James A. Hickey (1920-2004), Archbishop of Washington (1980-2000). 

·       Born in Michigan, and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan in1946.

·      Also served as auxiliary bishop of Saginaw, Michigan (1967-1969), rector for the North American College in Rome (1969-1974), and Bishop of Cleveland (1974-1980).  He was named a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1988. 

Cardinal Hickey was always concerned with the needs of the poor and disadvantaged.  He expanded Catholic Charities and established several new institutions to provide health care, legal aid, housing, and education to the poor—Catholic Charities became the region’s largest private provider of social services.  He also opened several new parishes and missions to serve new immigrant groups—at the time of his retirement, Masses were being celebrated in more than two dozen languages in the Archdiocese.  He also took early and effective action against priests involved in sexual abuse of minors.  Cardinal Hickey frequently testified before Congress on issues important to the Church, including nuclear disarmament and civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. 

Theodore E. McCarrick (1930-    ), Archbishop of Washington (2000-2006). 

·         Born in New York City and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York in 1958.

·         Also served in auxiliary bishop of New York (1977-1981), Bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey (1981-1986), and Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey (1986-2000).  He was named a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. 

Cardinal McCarrick began a successful endowment program to fund many of the Archdiocese’s needs.  Cardinal McCarrick also opened a new seminary for the Archdiocese as part of his emphasis on vocations—12 priests were ordained for the Archdiocese in 2006—the largest class in 30 years.  He also built a new high school that provides vocational training to moderate- and low-income students and supported scholarship programs for low-income students in the District of Columbia.  He traveled to many countries to assess human rights conditions and humanitarian needs.  Cardinal McCarrick retired in 2006. 

Current Bishop

Donald W. Wuerl was appointed Archbishop of Washington by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.  He was born in Pennsylvania in 1940 and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1966.  He previously served as auxiliary bishop of Seattle (1985-1988) and Bishop of Pittsburgh (1988-2006).  He was named a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

The Cathedral 

Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle

1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C.  20036 

St. Matthew was one of the twelve apostles and one of the four evangelists.  He was a tax collector, but little is known for sure of his life after the Resurrection.  He may have traveled to modern day Iran, Ethiopia, and Ireland.  It is thought that he was martyred by being stabbed with a sword.  He is patron saint of government workers, accountants, and of course, tax collectors.  His feast day is September 21. 

O Glorious Saint Matthew, in your Gospel You portray Jesus as the longed-for Messiah who fulfilled the Prophets of the Old Covenant and as the new Lawgiver who founded a Church of the New Covenant. Obtain for us the grace to see Jesus living In His Church and to follow His teachings in our lives on earth so that we may live forever with Him in heaven. Amen.

The parish of St. Matthew dates to 1840.  Its original church stood at 15^th and H Streets, N.W.  This Greek Revival structure saw many important events in early Washington Catholic history, including the baptism of President Tyler’s sister and the marriage of Senator Stephen Douglas.  The building was razed in 1910 and was replaced by the Southern Office Building.   

Construction on the current church began in 1893 and the first mass was said in 1895.  The Renaissance-style Cathedral was designed by Grant La Farge and is constructed with red brick and sandstone.  The building is in the form of a Latin cross 155 feet long and 136 feet wide at the transepts.  The Cathedral’s copper dome rises 200 above the ground and its main altar is made of white marble from India.

                          

Several beautiful mosaics by muralist Edwin Blashfield grace the Cathedral, including “Saint Matthew and the Angel” and “The Angels of the Crucifixion” above the main altar, the “Four Evangelists” on the four main pillars of the Cathedral, and the “Saintly and Eminent Personages of the Americas” over the entrance.  Side chapels are dedicated to our Blessed Mother, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, and the Holy Angels.  The organ was installed in 1995 and has 5,045 pipes.  St. Matthew’s, which became a Cathedral in 1939, seats 1,254, and has been the scene of many important liturgies, including a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in 1979, and the funeral Mass for President John F. Kennedy in 1963 (marked by a memorial).  The Cathedral underwent a major renovation that was completed in 2004 and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

The parish website, stmatthewscathedral.org, has an online tour of the cathedral.  You may also be interested in the Archdiocesan website at adw.org. 

The Cathedral is located in downtown Washington and has seven weekend masses, including one in Latin and one in Spanish, to serve about 1,500 parishioners and many visitors and downtown office workers.

All pictures were taken by me.

Also in Washington is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  The Shrine is dedicated to the Virgin Mary as Patroness of the United States.  Construction of the Byzantine-Romanesque church began in 1920 but was not completed until 1959.  It is the largest Catholic church in the Western Hemisphere, the eighth largest church in the world, but is only the second largest church in Washington, D.C.—the Washington National (Episcopal) Cathedral is slightly larger.  The Upper church can accommodate 6,000 people.  The Shrine features Byzantine mosaics and almost 60 chapels, many dedicated by various Catholic ethnic groups.  Pope John Paul II designated the Shrine as a basilica in 1990.  The Basilica Shrine is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Basilica is an honorary title bestowed on a church by the Pope because of the church’s antiquity, dignity, historical importance, or significance as a center of worship.  The basilica’s website is nationalshrine.com.  The website has a virtual tour.

The first picture is from the basilica website and the second is from the internet.

The U.S. Virgin Islands

Catholic History of the U.S. Virgin Islands

Christopher Columbus was the first European to come to what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1493.  He named them in honor of St. Ursula.  Many European nations claimed parts of the Virgin Islands until the Danish West Indian Company joined St. Croix to their existing colonies of St. Thomas and St. John in 1733.  The Danes sold the Islands to the United States in 1917.  Catholics are thought to have been in the Virgin Islands as early as the 17^th Century, but it was not until 1754 that the Danish government allowed Catholics to openly practice the Faith.  The following year, Holy Cross Church was established in Christiansted on St. Croix, and in 1773, Sts. Peter and Paul parish was established on St. Thomas.  Several religious orders ministered to the Virgin Island Catholics, including the Jesuits, Dominicans, and Redemptorists.  Pope John XXIII created the Territorial Prelature of the Virgin Islands in 1960 and Pope Paul VI created the Diocese of St. Thomas in 1977.

Map of the Diocese of St. Thomas 

Diocese of St. Thomas 

The diocese consists of U.S. Virgin Islands.  The diocese has 30,000 Catholics (28 percent of the total population) in 7 parishes.

Bishops of St. Thomas 

I have limited information the Bishops of St. Thomas. 

Edward J. Harper, C.SS.R (1910-1990), Territorial Prelate of the Virgin Islands (1960-1977) and first Bishop of St. Thomas (1977-1985). 

·         Born in New York and ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1939.

Bishop Harper retired in 1985.

Sean O’Malley, O.F.M.Cap. (1944-    ), Bishop of St. Thomas (1985-1992). 

• Born in Ohio and ordained a Capuchin priest in 1970.
• Also served as coadjutor bishop of St. Thomas (1984-1985), Bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts (1992-2002), Bishop of Palm Beach, Florida (2002-2003), and serves as Archbishop of Boston (since 2003).  Pope Benedict XVI named him a Cardinal in 2006. 

According to Wikipedia, Bishop O’Malley worked with the homeless and opened a home for AIDS victims.  Bishop O’Malley was named Bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1992.

Elliott G. Thomas (1926-    ), Bishop of St. Thomas (1993-1999). 

·         Born in Pennsylvania and ordained as a priest for the Diocese of St. Thomas in 1986.

Bishop Thomas retired in 1999. 
  

George V. Murry, S.J. (1948-    ), Bishop of St. Thomas (1999-2007). 

·         Born in New Jersey and ordained a Jesuit priest in 1979.

·         Also served as auxiliary bishop of Chicago (1995-1998), coadjutor bishop of St. Thomas (1998-1999), and serves as Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio (since 2007).

Murry converted to Catholicism as a child attending a Catholic school in Baltimore. Bishop Murry became the Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio, in 2007. 

Current Bishop 

Herbert A. Bevard was appointed Bishop of St. Thomas by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.  He was born in Maryland in 1946, converted to Catholicism in 1964, and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1972.  He previously served as a pastor in the Archdiocese.

The Cathedral 

Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral

2001 West End Avenue

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, V.I. 00803

St. Peter, originally known as Simon, was the first apostle chosen by Jesus.  Peter is frequently mentioned in the New Testament, and we know that he was a fisherman by trade, that he was married, that he was the leader of the apostles, and that he often tried the Lord’s patience.  After the Ascension of our Lord, Peter became the leader of the early church, eventually going to Rome to become the first Bishop of Rome, or Pope.  He was crucified there in approximately 64 A.D.  St. Paul, originally known as Saul, persecuted the early church, but was converted to Christianity by a vision of Jesus.  He spread the message of Christ to communities throughout much of the Roman Empire, becoming the Apostle to the Gentiles.  Many of his letters to early Christian communities have been retained in the New Testament.  He was beheaded in Rome either in 64 or 67 A.D.  The Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul is celebrated on June 29.

Defend, O Lord, thy servants, we beseech you, from all dangers both of body and soul; and, by the intercession of the blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, of blessed N., and of all your saints, mercifully grant us the blessings of peace and safety; that all adversities and errors being removed, your Church may freely and securely serve you; through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

The first Catholic church in Charlotte Amalie was purchased in 1802, but burned in 1804.  The first Sts. Peter and Paul church was completed in 1806 and was destroyed by a hurricane in 1837.  The current building was completed in 1848.  From 1858 to 1889, the parish was staffed by Redemptorist priests.  Sts. Peter and Paul became the Cathedral for the Diocese of St. Thomas in 1977. 

The Cathedral is built in Spanish style and contains 12 ceiling murals depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments.  The Cathedral website is cathedralvi.com and the Diocesan website is catholicvi.com.

The Cathedral is located near downtown Charlotte Amalie and has five weekend masses, including one in Spanish.  The parish elementary school and high school has a combined enrollment of 100.

Both pictures are from the Cathedral website.