Roman Catholic Diocese of Venice in Florida

Coordinates: 27°06′N 82°26′W / 27.100°N 82.433°W / 27.100; -82.433
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Italian diocese, see
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice
.
Diocese of Venice in Florida

Dioecesis Venetiae in Florida
St. Mark the Evangelist[1]
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopFrank Joseph Dewane
Metropolitan ArchbishopThomas Wenski
Map
Website
dioceseofvenice.org

The Diocese of Venice in Florida (

Latin: Dioecesis Venetiae in Florida) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory–or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southwest Florida
in the United States. It was founded on June 16, 1984.

As Bishop John Nevins resigned for reasons of age on January 19, 2007, he was succeeded by Bishop Frank Dewane. The Diocese of Venice in Florida is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Miami.

Territory

The Diocese of Venice includes ten counties: Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Manatee, and Sarasota.

History

1500 to 1565

The first Catholic presence in southwest Florida was the expedition of the Spaniard Juan Ponce de León, who arrived somewhere on the Gulf Coast in 1513. Hostility from the native Calusa people prevented him from landing. De Leon returned to the region with a colonizing expedition in 1521, landing near either Charlotte Harbor or the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. His expedition had 200 men, including several priests.[2]

Before the expedition could build a settlement, the Calusa attacked them, wounding de León. The Spanish abandoned their effort and returned to Puerto Rico, where de León died of his wound that same year.[3]

In 1539, Spanish explorer

Hernando De Soto, hoping to find gold in Florida, landed near present day Port Charlotte or San Carlos Bay. He named the new territory "La Bahia de Espiritu Santo," in honor of the Holy Spirit.[4] DeSoto led an expedition of 10 ships and 620 men. His company included 12 priests, there to evangelize the Native Americans. His priests celebrated mass almost every day.[4] Unwilling to attack such a large expedition, the Calusa evacuated their settlements near the landing area. The De Soto expedition later proceeded to the Tampa Bay
area and then into central Florida.

Luis de Cancer arrived by sea with several Dominican priests in present day Bradenton in 1549. Encountering a seemingly peaceful party of Tocobaga clan members, the Spanish decided to travel on to Tampa to meet the tribe. Several of the priests went overland with the Tocobaga while Cáncer and the rest of the party sailed to meet them.[5] Arriving at Tampa Bay, de Cáncer learned that the two priests in the overland group had been murdered by the Tocobaga. De Cáncer himself was later murdered by the Tocobaga.[5]

1565 to 1800

In 1565, the Spanish explorer

Mound Key in what is now Lee County. Menéndez de Avilés also built a fort at Mound Key and established a garrison
.

San Antón de Carlos was the first Jesuit mission in the Western Hemisphere and the first Catholic presence within the Venice area.

Juan Rogel and Francisco de Villareal spent the winter at the mission studying the Calusa language, then started evangelizing among the Calusa in southern Florida. The Jesuits built a chapel at the mission in 1567. Conflicts with the Calusa soon increased, prompting Menéndez de Avilés to abandon San Antón de Carlos in 1569.[6]

1819 to 1965

In the

Diocese of Havana. In 1825, Pope Leo XIII
erected the Vicariate of Alabama and Florida, which included all of Florida.

A quarter century later,

Florida Panhandle region.[8] However, seven years later, Pope Pius IX stripped Florida from the Diocese of Savannah and created a new Apostolic Vicariate of Florida. Finally, in 1870 the Vatican converted the vicariate into the Diocese of St. Augustine, which included the Venice area.[9]
This area would remain part of several Florida dioceses for the next 114 years.

Post civil war

After the end of the

Tampa, began visiting the Venice area. In 1889, the Venice area was placed under the jurisdiction of the Jesuit Order in Tampa. Jesuit priests made regular visits to Bradenton, Fort Myers, Arcadia
, and adjacent missions. The first missions and Catholic communities established by these Jesuits in southwest Florida were:

Epiphany Parish, the first in Venice, was established as a mission in 1935.[10] St. Ann's, the first Catholic church in Naples, opened in 1950.[11]

Erection of the diocese

Catholic Center – Venice

The Diocese of Venice in Florida was erected by

St. Petersburg; the pope named Auxiliary Bishop John J. Nevins of the Archdiocese of Miami as the founding bishop.[12]

Nevins built a memorial to the eucharist and a memorial cross in 1994 at De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton. This was to honor the priests from the de Cáncer expedition who were killed there in 1549. In 2006, Frank Dewane from the Diocese of Green Bay was appointed as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Venice by Pope Benedict XVI.[13]

When Nevins resigned in 2007, Dewane automatically succeeded him as bishop of Venice. As of 2023, Dewane is the current bishop.

Sex abuse

Charles Cikovic pleaded guilty in 1993 to

sexual battery on a child and of lewd and lascivious assault on a child. His victim was a 13 year-old girl that he lured into a sexual relationship during 1992 and early 1993. Cikovic was sentenced to six months in prison and 20 years of probation.[14] The girl's family sued the diocese in February 1994; the diocese settled the lawsuit three years later.[15]

In August 2003, three Florida siblings sued the Diocese of Venice in Florida and Bishop Nevins, alleging sexual molestation by William Romero, a former diocesan priest. Between 1979 and 1982, while in an sexual relationship with their mother, Romero allegedly sexually abused the children in Hobe Sound.[16] After receiving allegations against Romero in May 2002, Nevins had suspended him from ministry.[17] The plaintiffs said that the diocese had known of previous complaints against Romero when he served in Naples years before. The diocese ultimately settled four lawsuits involving Romero.

In November 2005, a

no contest to the charge.[19]

Bernard Chojnacki was arrested in June 2011 at Caspersen Beach in Venice on charges of

undercover police officer. The diocese immediately placed Chojnacki on administrative leave.[20]

The diocese settled a lawsuit with a Fort Myers man in 2014 regarding Jean Joseph from Holmes Beach. The plaintiff claimed that Joseph sexually abused him in the 1990s. Joseph was ultimately removed from his posting and eventually laicized.[21]

Robert Little, a lay minister at St. Francis Xavier Church in Fort Myers, was arrested in January 2014 on felony charges of lewd or lascivious behavior on a victim between ages 12 and 16. The victim was a special needs 13 year-old whom Little sexually abused several times at a condo. In a plea agreement, Little was sentence to three days in jail and ten years probation. The victim's family sued the diocese for $5 million in September 2014, claiming that it was negligent in its supervision of Little.[22] A second family sued the diocese that same month, saying that a ten year old boy had been assaulted.[23]

Bishops

Bishops of Venice

  1. John Joseph Nevins (1984-2007)
  2. Frank Joseph Dewane (2007–present, coadjutor bishop 2006–2007)

Education

High schools

Elementary schools

  • Epiphany Cathedral School – Venice
  • Incarnation School – Sarasota
  • Rhodora J. Donahue Academy – Ave Maria
  • St. Ann School – Naples
  • St. Andrew School – Cape Coral
  • St. Charles Borromeo School – Port Charlotte
  • St. Catherine Catholic School – Sebring
  • St. Elizabeth Seton School –
    Naples
  • St. Francis Xavier School – Fort Myers
  • St. Joseph School – Bradenton
  • St. Martha School – Sarasota[24]

Special needs schools

St. Mary Academy at Bishop Nevins Academy – Sarasota[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Our Diocese".
  2. ^ Davis, T. Frederick (1935). "History of Juan Ponce de Leon's Voyages to Florida". Florida Historical Quarterly. 14 (1): 51–66.
  3. ISBN 978-0-7432-5107-5
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8032-7122-7
    . Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  5. ^
    ISBN 1561641154
    . Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  6. ^ "History | Florida State Parks". www.floridastateparks.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  7. ^ "European Exploration and Colonization - Florida Department of State". dos.myflorida.com. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  8. ^ "Savannah (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  9. ^ "Saint Augustine (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  10. ^ "Campus and History". Epiphany Cathedral Venice, FL. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  11. ^ "HISTORY". stannschool. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  12. ^ "Venice (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  13. ^ "Bishop Frank Joseph Dewane [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  14. ^ "Ex-Priest Sentenced In Sex Abuse Case, Sun-Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale FL], September 28, 1993". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  15. ^ "Diocese Settles Sex-Abuse Lawsuit The Rev. Charles Michael Cikovic Pleaded Guilty in September 1993, by Juli Cragg Hilliard, Sarasota Herald-Tribune [Florida], February 28, 1997". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  16. ^ "Siblings sue 3, including Bishop Nevins". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  17. ^ "Message to the People of Southwest Florida Regarding Allegations of Sexual Misconduct Against Three Retired Priests of the Diocese of Venice, Diocese of Venice in Florida, May 24, 2002". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  18. ^ "Former altar boy claims sex abuse". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  19. ^ "Lawsuit Filed against Sarasota Catholic Priest". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  20. ^ "Priest Accused of Exposure Emigrated from Poland, by Kim Hackett, The Herald-Tribune, June 9, 2011". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  21. ^ "Diocese Of Venice Settles Sex Abuse Case In Fort Myers". WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida. 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  22. ^ "Fla. diocese sued for $5M in damages in sex abuse case". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  23. ^ "Lee Co. Sheriff Mike Scott Connected to Alleged Victim in Church Lawsuit, by Jim Spiewak, ABC 7, September 25, 2014". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  24. ^ a b c "Find a School". Diocese of Venice. Retrieved 2023-06-10.

External links

27°06′N 82°26′W / 27.100°N 82.433°W / 27.100; -82.433

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