Roman Catholic Diocese of Gaylord

Coordinates: 45°02′00.96″N 84°41′02.4″W / 45.0336000°N 84.684000°W / 45.0336000; -84.684000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Diocese of Gaylord

Diœcesis Gaylordensis
Detroit
Statistics
Area11,171 sq mi (28,930 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2018)
506,623
46,095[1] (9.1%)
Parishes75
Schools17
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedDecember 19, 1970 (53 years ago)
CathedralSt. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral
Patron saintOur Lady of Mount Carmel
Secular priests76
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopJeffrey Walsh
Metropolitan ArchbishopAllen Vigneron
Map
Website
dioceseofgaylord.org

The Diocese of Gaylord (

Latin: Diœcesis Gaylordensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern region of the lower peninsula of Michigan in the United States. The diocese is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Detroit
.

Territory

The Diocese of Gaylord covers approximately 11,171 square miles (28,930 km2). It comprises the 21 most northern counties of the lower peninsula of the state, and includes the cities of Gaylord, Traverse City, Alpena, Manistee and Petoskey.

The diocese has a population of 505,000, 66,000 of whom are Catholic. It contains 77 parishes and 17 schools.[1]

History

Original cathedral

Early history

During the 17th century, present-day Michigan was part of the French colony of

Province of Quebec, forbidden from settlement by American colonists. After the American Revolution, the Michigan region became part of the new United States. For Catholics, Michigan was now under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore
, which then comprised the entire country.

In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky, with jurisdiction over the new Michigan Territory. On June 19, 1821, the pope erected the Diocese of Cincinnati, taking the Michigan Territory from the Diocese of Bardstown.[2]

Diocese of Grand Rapids on May 19, 1882, and Pope Pius XI formed the Diocese of Saginaw
in 1938. These two diocese covered the Gaylord area.

1971 to present

Archdiocese of Detroit
.

On October 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Robert John Rose as the second bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord.[3] In 1989, the pope named Rose as bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. John Paul II replaced him with Auxiliary Bishop Patrick R. Cooney of the Archdiocese of Detroit later that year.[4] Cooney died in 2012.

On October 7, 2009,

Diocese of Lansing
as the next bishop of Gaylord. In 2020, Francis moved Raica to the Diocese of Birmingham to serve there as bishop.

The current bishop of Gaylord is Jeffrey Walsh from the Diocese of Scranton. He was appointed by Francis in 2022.

Sexual abuse

In 2002, Bishop Cooney allowed Reverend Gerald Shirilla to serve as pastor of a

sexual abuse.[6] After the Detroit Free Press reported on the situation in 2003, Cooney said that Shirilla had made "some errors in judgment" but was "no threat to the well-being of our children." Two weeks later, Cooney suspended him from ministry.[6]
Shirilla died in 2004.

In February 2017, Reverend Syvestre Obwaka was charged with first degree

criminal sexual conduct with personal injury and third degree criminal sexual conduct force or coercion. His accuser was another priest who claimed that Obwaka assaulted him at the rectory of St. Ignatius Parish in Rogers City
. Obwaka said that the incident was consensual. A jury acquitted Obwaka of all charges in July 2017.

Reverend Bryan Medlin in June 2022 was indefinitely suspended from ministry after sending inappropriate text messages to high school students. The local district attorney said that no criminal charges would be filed against Medlin.[7]

Bishops

Bishops of Gaylord

  1. Governorate of Vatican City State (elevated to Cardinal
    in 1988)
  2. Bishop of Grand Rapids
  3. Patrick R. Cooney (1989–2009)
  4. Bernard Hebda (2009–2013), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Newark and later Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
  5. Steven J. Raica (2014 – March 25, 2020),[8] appointed Bishop of Birmingham
  6. Jeffrey Walsh (2022–Present)

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

Chad Zielinski, appointed Bishop of Fairbanks in 2014

High schools

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "About Our Diocese". Diocese of Gaylord. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  2. JSTOR 41974134
    – via JSTOR.
  3. ^ "Bishop Robert John Rose". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.[self-published source]
  4. ^ "Bishop Patrick Ronald Cooney". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  5. ^ "Missionaries of Charity confessor appointed to shepherd Michigan diocese". Catholic News Agency. October 7, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Special Reports: Catholic Bishops and Sex Abuse". Bishop-Accountability.org.
  7. ^ Chew, Brandon (2022-06-24). "Diocese of Gaylord priest on indefinite leave for inappropriate texts with teens". WPBN. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
  8. ^ "Transition of Bishop Raica Information - Diocese of Gaylord". www.dioceseofgaylord.org. Retrieved 2020-04-10.

* 1.[1] Archived 2018-12-23 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Coat of arms of Roman Catholic Diocese of Gaylord
Notes
Arms was designed and adopted when the diocese was erected
Adopted
1970
Escutcheon
The diocesan arms consists of the "argent" wavy
chevronel
" (a reduced-in-width form of the "chevron", one of the most ancient heraldic pieces) surmounting the "or" (golden) Cross.
Symbolism
The "argent" wavy bordure recalls that the diocese is nearly surrounded Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and the Straits of Mackinac. The two "argent" six-point stars are reminiscent of the stars that appear on the crest of the Carmelite Order, recalling that the Church of Gaylord is under the patronage of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The two stars also represent the Dioceses of Grand Rapids and Saginaw which yielded territories to establish the Gaylord diocese in 1971. The "chevronel" (a reduced-in-width form of the "chevron", one of the most ancient heraldic pieces) surmounting the "or" (golden) Cross, was chosen to symbolize the new presence of the Church of Our Lord in the City of Gaylord, the city highest in elevation in Michigan's lower peninsula; indeed, the "chevron," whose shape recalls the truss of a roof, has been adopted in heraldry since the time of the Middle Ages to symbolize the building where the population assembles; for Catholics this building is the Church.[citation needed]

45°02′00.96″N 84°41′02.4″W / 45.0336000°N 84.684000°W / 45.0336000; -84.684000

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