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.