Other Archdioceses and
Dioceses
This blog discusses the Archdiocese for Military Services
USA, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and archdioceses and
dioceses in the U.S. Territories.
Archdiocese for the
Military Services, USA
The Archdiocese provides Catholic chaplains to U.S. military service personnel in the United States
History of the Archdiocese
Congress authorized chaplains to serve the spiritual needs
of the Armed Forces in 1775, but given the small number of priests in the early
history of the United States, spiritual support for Catholic members of the
Armed Forces was provided, if at all, by local priests. The first priest to be a commissioned officer
was Adam Marshall who served briefly in the Navy as a teacher, rather than a
chaplain, prior to his death in 1825.
Two Jesuit priests, John McElroy and Anthony Rey, served as Army
chaplains in the Mexican War and Father Rey was killed in action. A few priests served as chaplains at Western
forts during the Civil War—on both sides—and during the Spanish American
War. But the number of priests was
usually not sufficient to provide for all the Catholics serving in the Armed
Forces. During World War I, more than
1,000 priests became chaplains.
In 1917, Pope Benedict XV appointed bishops for the military
in several countries. In the United States,
this task of ministering to members of the armed services was given to the
Archbishops of New York. The archbishop
at that time, Cardinal John Farley, named one of his auxiliaries, Bishop
Patrick Hayes, to be the first bishop for the Armed Forces. During World War II, more than 3,000 priests
served as chaplains, some became prisoners of war and 76 died in service. Since the beginning of World War I, more than
100 Catholic chaplains have died in service.
After the World War II, the military bishop was given
jurisdiction over civilian government employees serving overseas and over the
Veterans Administration. To better serve
the members of the Armed Forces, Pope John Paul II created the Archdiocese for
the Military Services in 1985. It is
headquartered in Washington, DC. See
milarch.org.
Military Archbishops
From 1917 to 1985, the Archbishop of New York served as
Military Vicar.
Joseph T. Ryan (1913-2000)
- Born
in
- Also served as national secretary of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (1960-1965), Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska (1966-1975), and coadjutor military vicar of the U.S. Armed Forces (1975-1985).
- First Archbishop for the Military Services (1985-1991).
Joseph T. Dimino (1923-2014)
- Born
in
- Also served as auxiliary bishop for the Military Services (1983-1991).
- Archbishop for the Military Services (1991-1997).
Edwin F. O’Brien (born 1939)
- Born
in
- Also served as auxiliary bishop of New York (1996-1997)
- Archbishop for the Military Services (1997-2007)
- Later served as Archbishop of Baltimore (2007-2011) and serves as the Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Rome (since 2012). Pope Benedict XVI named O’Brien a Cardinal in 2012.
Current Archbishop
Timothy P. Broglio was appointed Archbishop for the Military
Services by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.
Broglio was born in Cleveland in 1951 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese
of Cleveland in 1977. He served as a
Vatican diplomat in the Ivory Coast and Paraguay and was given the honorary
title of Archbishop in 2001 prior to becoming apostolic nuncio to the Dominican
Republic and delegate to Puerto Rico.
Personal Ordinariate of
the Chair of St. Peter
The Ordinariate was established by Pope Benedict XVI to
serve former Anglicans who have become Catholic, but who wish to retain certain
elements of Anglican theological, spiritual, and liturgical practices. The Ordinariate is composed of over 40
parishes in the United States and Canada serving about 7,000 Catholics (as of
2017). Bishop Steven Lopes reports
directly to the Holy Father. (An
ordinariate is similar in most respects to a diocese, except that in this case
it is for all members of the Anglican rite throughout the United States and
Canada.)
Ordinary of the Chair of
St. Peter
Jeffrey N. Steenson (born 1952)
·
Born in Alabama and ordained an Episcopal priest
in 1980.
·
He served as an Episcopal bishop from 2004 to
2007. He and his wife, Debra, became
Catholics in 2007, and he was ordained a priest for the Catholic Archdiocese of
Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2009.
·
Ordinary
of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (2012-2015).
·
Father Steenson exercised many of the duties of
a bishop, but could not be ordained a bishop because he is married.
Current Bishop
Steven Joseph Lopes was appointed the first Bishop of the Personal
Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter by Pope Francis in 2015. He was born in California in 1975 and
ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 2001. He
served as an official of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the
Faith from 2005 to 2015.
The Cathedral
Our Lady of Walsingham Cathedral
7809 Shadyvilla Lane
Houston, Texas 77055
A devout Saxon noblewoman, Richeldis
de Faverches, had a vision of Our Blessed Mother in 1061. Our Lady showed de Faverches the home in
Nazareth where the Archangel Gabriel had appeared to her and asked de Faverches
to build a replica of the home in Walsingham, County Norfolk, England. Building materials appeared miraculously and
the shrine became a major pilgrimage destination in England. Sadly, King Henry VIII destroyed the complex
in 1538. The Anglican Church rebuilt the
shrine in 1931.
May
Our Lady of Walsingham from her throne of Grace bless you! Whether you have the
joy of making an actual pilgrimage to Walsingham or whether you make a
spiritual journey out of love for Mary, may her words resound and become a
reality in your life:
'To all those who come to this place I will give my help.'
'To all those who come to this place I will give my help.'
Our Lady of Walsingham parish was established in 1984 as a
Catholic parish for the use of former members of the Anglican and Episcopal
churches. It was the first church in the
United States dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham. The current building was completed in 2004
and became the principal church of the Ordinariate in 2012. It became a cathedral with the appointment in
2015 of Bishop Lopes.
The church was designed by Ethan Anthony of Boston in a Neo
Gothic design inspired by churches near Walsingham, England. The church bells were cast by the Cornille-Havard
Bell Foundry in France. The stained
glass windows were designed by Willet Studios in Philadelphia. The wooden pulpit and the altar rail were
carved in Columbia. The hand carved
reredos and tabernacle were crafted by Granda Liturgical Arts in
Spain.
There is also an outdoor shrine
dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham and inspired by a
remaining fragment of the destroyed priory in England.
The Cathedral website is olwcatholic.org
and the ordinariate website is ordinariate.net. The Cathedral is located 8 miles northwest of downtown Houston
and has five weekend masses.
Sources are from top to bottom: Cathedral website, Diocesan website, pinterest, and Wikipedia.
Dioceses in U.S.
Territories
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is the Province of San Juan and consists of the
Archdiocese of San Juan and five dioceses—Ponce, Arecibo, Caguas, Mayaguez, and
Fajardo-Humacao.
The Archdiocese of
San Juan was established as a Diocese in 1511 and became an Archdiocese in 1960. The Archdiocese serves 920,000
Catholics. The Metropolitan Cathedral is
the Basilica of San Juan Bautista.
The then-Diocese of San Juan was served by 44 bishops between
1511 and 1898, the later year being the year the United States gained
possession of Puerto Rico from Spain. These
bishops were almost all Spanish. The 44th
bishop, Francisco Javier Valdes y Noriega, returned to Spain to become a bishop there
in 1899. An American Marist priest,
James H. Blenk, then became Bishop in 1899.
He was named Archbishop of New Orleans in 1906 and he was succeeded in
1907 by William Ambrose Jones, an American Augustinian priest. Jones served until his death in 1921. George Joseph Caruana, from Malta,
served as Bishop from 1921 to 1925, before becoming a Vatican diplomat. Edwin Vincent Byrne, an American, served as Bishop from 1929 to 1943, when he was
named Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Another American, James Peter Davis, was named Bishop in 1943
and became the first Archbishop of San Juan in 1960. He was named Archbishop of Santa Fe in
1964. The first native Puerto Rican
priest to lead the San Juan Archdiocese was Luis Aponte Martinez,
appointed in 1964. He was named a
Cardinal in 1973 and retired in 1999.
The current Archbishop is Roberto Octavio González Nieves, an American
Franciscan, who was appointed in 1999.
The Diocese of Ponce
was established in 1924. The Diocese serves
480,000 Catholics and its Cathedral is Nuestra Senora de la Guadalupe. Ponce’s first Bishop, Edwin V. Byrne was an
American appointed in 1925. Byrne was
named Bishop of San Juan in 1929. Byrne
was succeeded by Aloysius Joseph Willinger, an American Redemptorist in 1929. He served in Ponce from 1929 until his
appointment in 1946 as coadjutor Bishop of Monterey-Fresno in California. The last (so far) American Bishop of Ponce
was James E. McManus, a Redemptorist priest.
He served as Bishop from 1947 to 1963.
The first Puerto Rican Bishop of Ponce was Luis Aponte
Martínez who served from 1963 until 1964 when he was named Archbishop of San
Juan. He was succeeded by another Puerto
Rican priest, Juan Fremiot Torres Oliver, in 1964. He served until his retirement in 2000. Bishop Ricardo Antonio Suriñach Carreras,
also from Puerto Rico, served as Bishop from 2000 to 2003. Félix Lázaro Martínez, who served as Bishop
from 2003 to 2015, was born in Spain and is a priest in the Order of Poor
Clerks Regular. The current Bishop,
Rubén Antonio González Medina, a Puerto Rican Claretian priest, has served
since 2015.
The Diocese of
Arecibo was established in 1960. The Diocese serves 385,000 Catholics and
its Cathedral is San Felipe Apostol. The
first Bishop was Alfredo José Isaac Cecilio Francesco Méndez-Gonzalez, an
American Holy Cross priest who served as Bishop from 1960 to 1974. Miguel Rodriguez Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican
Redemptorist priest served as Bishop from 1974 to 1990. Iñaki Mallona Txertudi, a Spanish Passionist
priest, served as Bishop from 1991 to 2010.
The current Bishop, Daniel Fernandez Torres, an American, has served
since 2010.
The Diocese of Caguas
was established in 1964. The Diocese serves 500,000 Catholics and its Cathedral
is Dulce Nombre de Jesus. Rafael Grovas
Felix, a Puerto Rican priest, served as the first Bishop from 1965 to
1981. Enrique Manuel Hernández Rivera,
also a priest form Puerto Rico, served as the second Bishop from 1981 to
1998. Rubén Antonio González Medina, a
Puerto Rican Claretian priest, served as Bishop from 2000 to 2015. The current Bishop, Eusebio Ramos Morales, is
a Puerto Rican priest who has served as Bishop since 2017.
The Diocese of Mayaguez
was established in 1976. The Diocese serves 420,000 Catholics and its Cathedral
is Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria. The
Diocese’s first Bishop, Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas, a priest from Puerto
Rico, served from 1976 to 2011. The
current Bishop, Álvaro Corrada Del Río, is a Puerto Rican Jesuit priest, who
has served as Bishop since 2011.
The Diocese of
Fajardo-Humacao was established in 2008. The Diocese serves 100,000
Catholics. The Cathedral of Santiago
Apostol is in Fajardo, and the co-Cathedral of Dulce Nombre de Jesus, is in
Humacao. The Diocese’s first Bishop,
Eusebio Ramos Morales, is a Puerto Rican priest who served as Bishop from 2008
to 2017. A new bishop has not been
appointed.
Guam
Guam Catholics are served by the Archdiocese of Agana. It was
established as a Vicariate Apostolic in 1911, became a Diocese in 1965, and an
Archdiocese in 1984. There are about
140,000 Catholics served by the Archdiocese.
The Basilica of Dulce Nombre de
Maria in Agaña is the Cathedral.
Francisco Javier
Vilá y Mateu, a Spanish Capuchin priest served as the first Vicar Apostolic
between 1911 and 1913. He was succeeded
by three more Spanish Capuchins, Agustín Bernaus y Serra (who served only seven
months in 1913), Joaquín Felipe Oláiz y Zabalza (1914 to 1933), and Miguel
Ángel Olano y Urteaga (1934 to 1945). Apollinaris W.
Baumgartner, an American Capuchin, served as Vicar Apostolic from 1945 to 1965
and served as the first Bishop of Agana from 1965 to 1970. American Felixberto Camacho Flores served as
the second Bishop of Agana (1971-1984) and as the first Archbishop
(1984-1985). Anthony Sablan Apuron, a
Capuchin priest from Guam, served as Archbishop from 1986 to 2018. The current Archbishop, Michael J. Byrnes, is
an American from the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Northern Mariana Islands
Catholics of the Northern Mariana Islands are served by the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. It was established in 1984 and is part of the
Province of Agana. The diocese serves
about 45,000 Catholics and the Diocesan Cathedral is Our Lady of Mount Carmel
in Chalan Kanoa.
Tomas Aguon Camacho, a priest of the Diocese, served as the
first Bishop of Chalon Kanoa from 1984 to 2010.
Ryan P. Jimenez, from the Philippines, was appointed apostolic
administrator of the Diocese in 2010 and was appointed Bishop in 2016.
American Samoa
Catholics in American Samoa are served by the Diocese of Samoa—Pago Pago. It was established in 1982 and is part of the
Province of Samoa—Apia. The diocese
serves 15,000 Catholics and the Diocesan Cathedral is the Cathedral of
the Holy Family in Tafuna.
There is also a Co-Cathedral
of St. Joseph the Worker in Fagatogo.
John Quinn Weitzel, an American priest of the Catholic
Foreign Mission Society of America, served as the first Bishop of Samoa—Pago
Pago from 1986 to 2013. The current
Bishop, Peter H. Brown, was appointed in 2013.
He is a Redemptorist priest from New Zealand.
Update
Pope Francis recently named a church in South Carolina to be
the 85th minor basilica in the United States. The Basilica of St. Peter is located in
Columbia. Bishop John England sent
Father James Wallace to minister to Irish workers in Columbia in 1821. The first St. Peter’s was constructed in 1824
and was the first Catholic church in the region. The current church was built in 1907 and was
designed in the Gothic Revival style by Frank Milburn, who also designed the
dome of the state capitol in Columbia. The Basilica’s website is visitstpeters.org.
The first picture is from pinterest and the second from Wikipedia.
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