Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson
Diocese of Jackson Dioecesis Jacksoniensis | |
---|---|
St. Peter the Apostle | |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Joseph Kopacz |
Metropolitan Archbishop | Thomas John Rodi |
Vicar General | Lincoln Dall |
Judicial Vicar | Jeffrey Waldrep |
Map | |
Website | |
jacksondiocese.org |
The Diocese of Jackson is a Latin Church diocese in Mississippi in the United States. Its ecclesiastical jurisdiction includes the northern and central parts of the state, an area of 97,458 square kilometers (37,629 sq mi). It is the largest diocese, by area, east of the Mississippi River.
The Diocese of Jackson is a
History
1600 to 1837
The first Catholic priests in Mississippi were French
The
1837 to 1860
In 1837,
In 1842, Chanche laid the cornerstone of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, designed by Robert Long Jr. After the Vatican transferred the diocesan see to Jackson, this became St. Mary's Basilica.[5] In 1847 the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg, Maryland, came to Natchez and established Saint Mary's Orphanage.[6] During his tenure as bishop, Chanche built 11 churches, with a team of 11 priests and 13 attendant missions. Chanche died in 1853.
Bishop James Van de Velde was named as the second bishop of Natchez by Pope Pius IX in 1853. However, after only 23 months in office, Van de Velde died in 1855 of yellow fever.[7] The next bishop of Natchez was Bishop William Elder, appointed by Pius IX in 1857. At the time he arrived in Natchez, the diocese had eleven missions (churches), nine priests and 10,000 Catholics.[8][9]
1860 to 1900
After the occupation of Natchez in 1864 by the Union Army during the American Civil War, Elder refused an order from the military government to compel his parishioners to pray for the US president. Elder was then arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed briefly in Vidalia, Louisiana. Elder wrote an appeal from prison to President Abraham Lincoln. Elder explained that his refusal was not based on politics, but on the authority of the Catholic church to regulate its church services. The Federal Government ordered Elder's release from prison on August 12, 1864.[10]
In 1878, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Natchez. Ministering to the sick, Elder caught the disease. He survived but lost six diocesan priests.[9] When he left the diocese, there were 41 churches, 25 priests, six religious houses for men, five convents, 13 parish schools and 12,500 Catholics. Elder was named coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII.[8]
In 1881,
In 1889, Leo III appointed Thomas Heslin of the Archdiocese of St. Louis as the new bishop of Natchez.[14] St. Mary's Church in Vicksburg, serving the African-American community, was founded in 1906, with half of the funding coming from Sister Katherine Drexel.[15]
1900 to 1960
When Heslin died in 1911,
After Gunn died in 1924, Pope Pius XI appointed Richard Gerow of the Diocese of Mobile as the next bishop of Natchez. During his 43-year tenure, Gerow oversaw an extensive renovation of St. Mary's Cathedral, held biannual clerical conferences, and worked to established Confraternity of Christian Doctrine programs in every parish of the diocese.[18] He moved the episcopal see of the diocese to Jackson in 1948.[18] On December 18, 1956, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Natchez to the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson.[9]
1960 to 1980
In 1963, Gerow condemned the assassination of the
The next bishop of Natchez-Jackson was Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Brunini, appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1967. He was the first native Mississippian to serve in that post.[22] During his tenure, Brunini was an outspoken advocate of the Civil Rights Movement; he once declared, "We as religious leaders can't blame the politicians if we don't do our job first."[23] He co-founded and served as the first president of the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference.[22] In 1977, Paul VI erected the Diocese of Biloxi, removing the southern counties of Mississippi from what was now called the Diocese of Jackson.
1980 to present
When Brunini retired in 1984, Pope John Paul II named William Houck from the Archdiocese of Mobile to serve as bishop of Jackson. Houck retired in 2003 and John Paul II appointed Joseph Latino of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodoux that same year. He instituted the Office for Protection of Children. Latino retired in 2013.[9]
As of 2023, the bishop of the Diocese of Jackson is Joseph Kopacz from the
Sexual abuse
Kenneth, Thomas and Francis Morrison Jr., three brothers from Jackson, sued the diocese in June 2002, claiming that they had all been sexually abused as minors by the priest George Broussard during the 1960s and early 1970s. The brothers said the alleged abuse took place at St. Peter's church behind the altar, at the rectory and at a family lake house. After two of the boys told their father about it, he reported the abuse to the diocese in 1973. The diocese then allowed Broussard to remain at St. Peter's for another 18 months.[25] He left public ministry in 1975.
Mark Belenchia and a man identified as John Doe sued the diocese in July 2002, saying that they had been sexually abused as teenagers by two diocesan priests. Belenchia accused the priest Bernard Haddican of sexually abusing him, after plying him with cigarettes and alcohol. Doe said that he was sexually assaulted by the priest Paul Madden during a 1973 trip to Ireland.[26][27] A judge dismissed the two cases in 2003, saying that they had passed the statute of limitations.[28]
In 2006, the diocese settled lawsuits with 19 sexual abuse victims for $5 million, with an average payout of over $250,000 per victim. The Morrison brothers were included in this settlement.[29]
In 2020, the media reported that La Jarvis D. Love claimed that he was sexually abused by the monk Paul West at a Franciscan grade school in Greenwood. Love in early 2019 accepted a $15,000 settlement from the Franciscan Order.[30] In August 2019, Love's three cousins, Joshua Love, La Jarvis Love and Raphael Love, also accused West of sexually abusing them in the mid-1990s.[31] In August 2020, West was extradited from Wisconsin to Mississippi to face trial on sex abuse charges against La Jarvis D. Love.[32][33] West was convicted in April 2022 of sexual battery and gratification of lust and sentenced to 45 years in prison.[34]
Demographics
The first cathedral of the Diocese of Natchez was St. Mary's in Natchez, whose cornerstone was laid by Bishop Chanche in 1842. The current seat of the Diocese of Jackson is the
The diocese encompasses an area that is overwhelmingly Protestant. Only about 2.6% of the residents in the diocese are considered Catholic (about 52,000 Catholics out of a total population of nearly 2 million). The diocese contains 74 parishes and has 79 priests.
Bishops
Vicars Apostolic of Mississippi
Louis William Valentine DuBourg (1825–1826)
Bishops of Natchez
- John J. Chanche, P.S.S. (1840–1852)
- James Oliver Van de Velde, S.J. (1853–1855)
- William Henry Elder (1857–1880), appointed Archbishop of Cincinnati
- Archbishop of New Orleans
- Thomas Heslin (1889–1911)
- John Edward Gunn, S.M. (1911–1924)
- Richard Oliver Gerow (1924–1956), title changed with title of diocese
Bishops of Natchez-Jackson
- Richard Oliver Gerow (1956–1967)
- Joseph Bernard Brunini (1967–1977), title changed with title of diocese
Bishops of Jackson
- Joseph Bernard Brunini (1977–1984)
- William Russell Houck (1984–2003)
- Joseph Nunzio Latino (2003–2013)
- Joseph R. Kopacz(2014–present)
Former auxiliary bishops
- Joseph Bernard Brunini (1957-1967), appointed Bishop of Jackson
- Joseph Lawson Howze (1973-1977), appointed Bishop of Biloxi
- William Russell Houck (1979–1984), appointed Bishop of Jackson
Other diocesan priests who became bishops
- Bernard Francis Law, appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in 1973; future Cardinal
- Ronald Paul Herzog, appointed Bishop of Alexandria in 2004
Schools
Elementary and high schools
- Cathedral High School – Natchez
- St. Joseph Catholic School – Greenville
- Vicksburg Catholic - St. Aloysius – Vicksburg [35]
Middle and high schools
St. Joseph Catholic – Madison[35]
See also
- Catholic Church hierarchy
- List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States
- Natchesium
References
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Natchez". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ EIDT, MARY BELLAN. "John Mary Joseph Chanche". St. Mary Basilica Archives. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ a b "History of Our Church". St. Paul Catholic Church. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ Gandy, Joan (January 7, 2007). "St. Mary exhibit tells history of first bishop". Natchezdemocrat.com. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ Williams, Aaron. "Rector's Welcome". St. Mary's Basilica. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ "Body of first bishop of Mississippi exhumed in Baltimore". Archdiocese of Baltimore. 2012-01-19. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
- ^ Biographical Sketch of Bishop James O. Van de Velde, S. J. Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, St. Mary Basilica Archives. Accessed April 13, 2009.
- ^ a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: William Henry Elder". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ a b c d "History". Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ Character Glimpses of Most Reverend William Henry Elder, D.D., published by Frederick Pustet & Company, New York and Cincinnati, 1911
- ^ "Archbishop Francis August Anthony Joseph Janssens". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
- ^ "New Orleans". Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ "Academics". www.stjoeirish.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ "Bishop Thomas Heslin". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
- ^ Surratt, John (2022-09-11). "116 Years of Devotion: St. Mary Catholic Church to be honored with historic markers". The Vicksburg Post. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ a b "Bishop John Edward Gunn". Natchez City Cemetery. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14.
- ^ a b Namorato, Michael V. (1998). "John E. Gunn, 1911–1924". The Catholic Church in Mississippi, 1911–1984: A History. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- ^ a b Namorato, Michael V. (1998). The Catholic Church in Mississippi, 1911-1984: A History. Westport: Greenwood Press.
- ^ "PRELATE DEPLORES SLAYING IN JACKSON". The New York Times. 1963-06-15.
- ^ "MISSISSIPPI FACES NEW SCHOOL STEP; Catholic System to Integrate First Grades Next Month". The New York Times. 1964-08-10.
- ^ "SCHOOL COLOR BAR ENDED BY DIOCESE; All Parochial Classes in Mississippi Integrated". The New York Times. 1965-08-22.
- ^ The Sun Herald.
- ^ "Risk-Taking Bishop". The New York Times. 1969-12-25.
- ^ "Catholic Diocese of Jackson, bishop sued by former finance director". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ "Suit Filed against Diocese, by Jimmie E. Gates, Clarion-Leader (Jackson, MS), June 13, 2002". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
- ^ "Alleged Abuse Victims File 27 Million Suit against Jackson Diocese, Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 18, 2002". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
- ^ "Mississippi Sex Abuse Cases Have Bigger Meaning for Law". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
- ^ "Legal Limitations Still to Be Settled in Jackson Catholic Diocese Priest Abuse Case, Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 8, 2005". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
- ^ "Diocese Settles Abuse Lawsuits, by Jimmie E. Gates, The Clarion-Ledger [Jackson MS], March 17, 2006". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
- ^ "After secrecy, Catholic church settles sex abuse case with black man". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
- ^ "Survivors demand US investigation of Mississippi abuse deals". Mississippi Business Journal. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2019-08-30. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
- ^ Michael Rezendes (September 3, 2020). "Former Fox Valley Catholic school teacher returned to face Mississippi charges". Fox 11 News. Associated Press. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
- ^ MICHAEL REZENDES (2020-09-03). "Former Fox Valley Catholic school teacher returned to face Mississippi charges". WLUK. Associated Press. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ "Convicted ex-friar won't be tried in 2nd sex abuse case, which occurred on trips in Wisconsin, New York". WIZM 92.3FM 1410AM. Associated Press. 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ a b "Schools". Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Natchez". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.