The Diocese of Raleigh is a Roman Catholic diocese that covers the eastern half of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Atlanta. On July 5, 2017, Pope Francis named Luis Rafael Zarama to be the 6th Bishop of Raleigh; Zarama will be installed on August 29, 2017 at the recently consecrated Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral.
Cathedral churches
The bishop is seated at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Basilica Shrine of St. Mary, a minor basilica in Wilmington, was once used as a cathedral for the Carolina areas before the Diocese of Raleigh was founded. The Former Pro-Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle, in Wilmington, was secularized. Prior to Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Sacred Heart Cathedral served as the cathedral from 1924-2017. Since the dedication of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral on July 26, 2017, the former Sacred Heart Cathedral has been relegated to a church.
Construction on Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral commenced January 3, 2015. The cathedral was designed by O'Brien and Keane of Arlington, Virginia in the Romanesque Revival style, containing a cruciform floor plan with a dome over the crossing and 42 stained glass windows and Stations of the Cross from closed churches in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Beyer Studio of Philadelphia restored the windows before they were installed.
History
- On 3 March 1868, the Apostolic Vicariate of North Carolina was established in territory split from the Diocese of Charleston under the ecclesiastical authority of Bishop Leo Haid, O.S.B., who was both abbot of Benedictine Belmont Abbey and Vicar Apostle of North Carolina...
- On 8 June 1910, it lost territory to establish the Abbacy nullius of Belmontâ€"Mary Help of Christians
- It was promoted on December 12, 1924 to Diocese of Raleigh, by Pope Pius XI. The Holy See offered in 1910 to establish in Wilmington a diocese for North Carolina with St. Mary Catholic Church as the cathedral, but Haid refused to relocate to the coast, a move necessary if the diocese was to be established there. North Carolina remained an Apostolic Vicariate until 1924, when Bishop Haid died. Pius XI erected the Diocese of Raleigh and assigned a secular priest as its bishop. The diocese, covering nearly 46,000 miles and holding 8,254 Catholics, comprised all of North Carolina except eight counties which had been given to Belmont Abbey in 1910 as the abbey's own diocese, the "Abbey Nullius". Within the diocese there were twenty-four churches with permanent pastors, forty mission churches cared for by priests of the parishes, and other "stations," where church structures did not exist but priests came to celebrate the Sacraments. The diocese had twenty-three diocesan priests, twenty-eight priests in religious orders, and 127 religious sisters.
- It gained territory twice: in 1944 from the re-absorbed Abbacy nullius of Belmontâ€"Mary Help of Christians and in June 1960 from the Abbacy nullius of Belmontâ€"Mary Help of Christians.
- On 12 November 1971, it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Charlotte.
Bishops
Bishop William Hafey
William J. Hafey, a thirty-seven-year-old priest, became Raleigh's first bishop. Prior to his installation on July 1, 1925, Archbishop Michael Joseph Curley of Baltimore supervised the diocese. As bishop, Hafey traveled often, within and outside of the diocese, seeking both servants and money for the diocese. Many men and women heard his plea for help and came to the diocese as priests and religious. The financial donations Hafey received assisted the diocese, some of which purchased land for churches. In 1937, Hafey became bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, leaving the diocese with 52 parishes, 53 diocesan priests, 26 religious order priests, and 10,571 Catholics.
Bishop Eugene McGuinness
Eugene J. McGuinness replaced Bishop Hafey, being installed on 6 January 1938. McGuinness, a Pennsylvanian priest, had worked for the Catholic Church Extension Society, an organization that gathered and dispersed financial aid to small, poorer dioceses. As bishop of North Carolina, McGuinness continued to seek financial aid, this time for his diocese. In 1944 he requested to be transferred to Oklahoma, and his petition was granted. He left the diocese with 86 parishes, 83 diocesan priests, 59 religious priests, 238 religious sisters, and 12,922 Catholics.
Bishop Vincent Waters
Vincent S. Waters became the third bishop of the Raleigh Diocese. In 1945, he left the missionary territory of Virginia where he had served as a priest and came as bishop to the mission ground of the Raleigh Diocese. He had many goals. Waters wanted the salvation of all people and the conversion of all North Carolinians. To increase conversions, he started the Missionary Apostolate. The Missionary Apostolate was a four-part program that used the energies of his seminarians and priests to spread Catholicism. The first aspect of the Apostolate was the Summer Census. Each summer, the seminarians went to different areas of North Carolina, noting the Catholics and distributing Catholic information. The second aspect of the Apostolate was the Apostolate year, in which the newly ordained priests spent their first priestly year at an older priest's parish, serving at the parish's missions. The third part of the Apostolate was the Trailer Apostolate. Traveling in trailers to rural areas, the two priests remained in one place for two weeks, teaching Catholicism and celebrating the Sacraments. The diocese's two trailers each had a chapel, living space, an area for visiting, and an outdoor altar. The fourth aspect of Missionary Apostolate was the Mission Band. Waters stationed two Raleigh priests at two separate parishes outside of the diocese where they preached and solicited donations for the Raleigh Diocese. Priests who remained within the diocese planned retreats for the North Carolina Catholics. These four aspects comprised Waters' Missionary Apostolate. To convert the entire state, Waters encouraged each Church to convert one North Carolinian for every adult parishioner. This goal was not realized. Waters was more successful in establishing a Catholic church in every county. At his death, seventy-five of the one hundred North Carolina counties contained churches, though many were missions, lacking a resident pastor because of the shortage of priests. Waters also wanted to increase the number and size of parochial schools. Initially successful, schools increased from fifteen to sixty-four, but following the Second Vatican Council, the number declined, though Waters was still bishop. Waters began ending segregation in the diocese in June 1953, despite resistance from the North Carolinians. Holy Redeemer Parish in Newton Grove, run by the Redemptorist priests, became the first Church of any denomination in North Carolina to be integrated. On Memorial Day Weekend of 1953, Waters himself celebrated the first integrated Mass. No riots ensued, but tension abounded and both the church and school suffered such a loss of numbers that both closed and the Redemptorists left. Later, the church reopened as Our Lady of Guadalupe and operates to this day. In 1954, St. Monica, a school for black children, joined the Cathedral School for whites. These two became the first integrated schools in North Carolina. Waters strove to preserve pious Catholic traditions. Unhappy that some religious sisters stopped wearing their habits, Waters wrote a letter in 1971 requesting that the nuns wear their habits or leave the diocese. Some religious sisters kept their habits and continued serving; others left the diocese. Waters also required that his priests wear their clerics in public. Though some people, religious and lay, disliked Waters' rigidity and traditionalism, others supported Waters as he preserved Church traditions. While Waters was bishop, the diocese grew. It increased physically, having received by 1960 the Abbey Nullius as its own property. The diocese covered all of North Carolina except Belmont Abbey, which remained its own diocese under the abbot's supervision. The diocese had three auxiliary bishops during Waters' episcopate: James Johnston Navagh (1952-1957), Charles Borromeo McLaughlin (1964-1968) and George Edward Lynch (1970-1985). The Raleigh Diocese also grew in numbers; by 1972, the diocese contained over 70,000 Catholics. Pope Paul VI granted Waters' petition and split the Raleigh Diocese, establishing the Diocese of Charlotte for the west half of North Carolina. The Raleigh Diocese dropped from about 46,000 miles to its current size of about 32,000 miles, stretching from Burlington, just East of Greensboro, to the Atlantic Coast. After nearly thirty years of being Raleigh's bishop, Waters died from a heart attack in 1974, leaving North Carolina with 78 diocesan priests, 76 religious order priests, and 77,834 Catholics.
Bishop Francis Joseph Gossman
Bishop Gossman, from Baltimore, Maryland, became the Raleigh Diocese's fourth bishop on May 19, 1975. Gossman relied on the advice of others when making decisions. He encouraged "collegiality," lay and female assistance in the Church's duties. Gossman asked the faithful to help by living their faith daily and helping those in need. He also welcomed their assistance in diocesan positions. Religious sisters became pastoral administrators. Sr. Evelyn Mattern, directed the Office of Peace and Justcie. In 1992, John Riedy became the first lay chancellor of the diocese. Gossman retired in 2006 after leading the Raleigh Diocese for over thirty years. During Gossman's years as bishop, the diocese expanded with over 50 parishes and the number of Catholics tripled; the diocese had 192,000 registered Catholics in 2006.
Bishop Michael Burbidge
Bishop Burbidge, Philadelphia's auxiliary bishop (2002-2006), became the fifth bishop of the Raleigh Diocese. Burbidge is known for his faithfulness to the Church and his familiarity with the people of his diocese. In the fall of 2007, he began the Diocese of Raleigh Home Mission Society. Bishop Burbidge was appointed the Bishop of Arlington on October 4, 2016. The diocese had stopped receiving donations from the Catholic Church Extension Society in 2000 since it had raised a substantial amount of money, but many people, Hispanics, northern Catholics, and military families, were immigrating to North Carolina. The diocese needed more, larger churches. Burbidge started the Home Mission Society to help raise funds for the construction of churches in the mission areas of North Carolina.
Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama
Bishop Zarama, Atlanta's auxiliary bishop (2009-2017), became the sixth Bishop of the Raleigh diocese.
Episcopal ordinaries
(all Roman Rite)
Apostolic Vicars of North Carolina
- James Gibbons (1868.03.03 â€" 1877.05.20), Titular Bishop of Adramyttium (1868.03.03 â€" 1872.07.30); later Bishop of Richmond (USA) (1872.07.30 â€" 1877.05.29), Titular Archbishop of Ionopolis (1877.05.29 â€" 1877.10.03), Coadjutor Archbishop of Baltimore (1877.05.29 â€" 1877.10.03), succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Baltimore (USA) (1877.10.03 â€" death 1921.03.24), created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere (1887.03.17 â€" 1921.03.24), thus becoming Protopriest of the Sacred College of Cardinals (1920.12.07 â€" 1921.03.24)
- Stanislaus Mark Gross (1880.02.24 â€" death 1881 not possessed), Titular Bishop of Lyrba (1880.02.24 â€" 1881 not possessed)
- Henry Pinckney Northrop (1881.09.16 â€" 1888.02.04), Titular Bishop of Rosalia (see) (1881.09.16 â€" 1883.01.27), later Bishop of Charleston (USA) (1883.01.27 â€" 1916.06.07)
- Leo Michael Haid, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (1888.02.04 â€" 1924.07.24), Titular Bishop of Messene (1888.02.04 â€" death 1924.07.24), President of American-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation (1890 â€" 1896), Abbot nullius of Belmontâ€"Mary Help of Christians (USA) (1910.06.08 â€" death 1924.07.24)
Suffragan Bishops of Raleigh
- William J. Hafey (1925.04.06 â€" 1937.10.02); later Titular Bishop of Appia (1937.10.02 â€" 1938.03.25) as Coadjutor Bishop of Scranton (USA) (1937.10.02 â€" 1938.03.25), succeeding as Bishop of Scranton (1938.03.25 â€" death 1954.05.12)
- Eugene J. McGuinness (1937.10.13 â€" 1944.11.11); later Titular Bishop of Ilium (1944.11.11 â€" 1948.02.01) as Coadjutor Bishop of Oklahoma Cityâ€"Tulsa (USA) (1944.11.11 â€" 1948.02.01), succeeding as Bishop of Oklahoma Cityâ€"Tulsa (USA) (1948.02.01 â€" death 1957.12.27)
- Vincent Stanislaus Waters (1945.03.15 â€" death 1974.12.03)
- Auxiliary Bishop : James Johnston Navagh (1952.07.29 â€" 1957.05.08), Titular Bishop of Ombi (1952.07.29 â€" 1957.05.08); later Bishop of Ogdensburg (USA) (1957.05.08 â€" 1963.02.12), Bishop of Paterson (USA) (1963.02.12 â€" death 1965.10.02)
- Auxiliary Bishop : Charles Borromeo McLaughlin (1964.01.13 â€" 1968.05.02), Titular Bishop of Risinium (1964.01.13 â€" 1968.05.02); later Bishop of Saint Petersburg (USA) (1968.05.02 â€" death 1978.12.14)
- Auxiliary Bishop : George Edward Lynch (1969.10.20 â€" retired 1985.04.16), Titular Bishop of Satafi (1969.10.20 â€" death 2003.05.25)
- Francis Joseph Gossman (1975.04.08 â€" retired 2006.06.08), previously Titular Bishop of Aguntum (1968.07.15 â€" 1975.04.08) & Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore (USA) (1968.07.15 â€" 1975.04.08), died 2013
- Michael F. Burbidge (2006.08.06 - 2016.10.04); previously Titular Bishop of Cluain Iraird (2002.06.21 â€" 2006.06.08) & Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia (USA) (2002.06.21 â€" 2006.06.08), later Bishop of Arlington (USA) (2016.12.06 â€" ...)
- Luis Rafael Zarama (2017.08.29 â€" ...), previously Titular Bishop of Bararus (2009.07.27 â€" 2017.07.05) & Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta (USA) (2009.07.27 â€" 2017.07.05).
Other priests in the diocese who became bishops
- Michael Joseph Begley, 1st Bishop of Charlotte (1972-1984) retired
- Bernard Shlesinger, Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta (2017â€"present)
Statistics and extent of the diocese
As per 2015, it pastorally served 231,230 Catholics (4.7% of 4,874,815 total) on 82,556 km² in 79 parishes and 5 missions with 162 priests (114 diocesan, 48 religious), 73 deacons, 90 lay religious (52 brothers, 38 sisters) and 29 seminarians.
In 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh contained seven Catholic centers on college campuses; 70 active diocesan priests and 49 active religious priests; 64 religious sisters; 47 religious men; 217,000 registered Catholics; and 240,000 unregistered Hispanics.
Catholic Education in the diocese
The Diocese of Raleigh currently has two high schools, as well as a lay-run high school and many lower schools. Of these include;
High schools
- John Paul II Catholic High School, Greenville
- Cardinal Gibbons High School, Raleigh
- St. Thomas More Academy, Raleigh (run by laypeople)
Elementary and middle schools
- St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School, Apex
- St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School, Cary
- St. Thomas More Catholic School, Chapel Hill
- Immaculata Catholic School, Durham
- St. Ann Catholic School, Fayetteville
- St. Patrick Catholic School, Fayetteville
- St. Peter's Catholic School, Greenville
- St. Paul Catholic School, New Bern
- Cathedral School, Raleigh
- St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic School, Raleigh
- Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Raleigh
- The Franciscan School, Raleigh
- St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic School, Wake Forest
- St. Mary Catholic School, Wilmington
- St. Egbert's Catholic School (Morehead City, N.C.)
- Annunciation Catholic School (Havelock, N.C.)
- St. Mark Catholic School (Wilmington N.C.)
- St. Mary's School, Goldsboro
- Infant of Praque Catholic School Jacksonville, N.C.
Women Religious in the Diocese
Women Religious have made an invaluable contribution to the life and growth of the Catholic Church in North Carolina. Sisters of Mercy from Charleston, South Carolina, moved to Wilmington in 1862 to care for victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic. In 1869, this same order of sisters opened the “Academy of the Incarnation†(now named St. Mary’s School). These Sisters are also credited with opening schools in the western part of our state, including: St. Patrick School (Charlotteâ€"1888), Sacred Heart Academy (Belmontâ€"1892), and Sacred Heart School (Salisburyâ€"1910). The Sisters of Mercy (Belmont) is the one community of women religious working in our state whose motherhouse is also located here.
Both the orphanages in Belmont, North Carolina, and Raleigh, North Carolina were staffed by the Sister of Mercy of North Carolina. The last five years of the Catholic Orphanage on Nazareth Street in Raleigh, North Carolina were served by the Sisters of Notre Dame, Chardon, Ohio.
Other communities of women religious also answered the call to serve in North Carolina. The Religious of Christian Education opened St. Genevieve of the Pines Academy Asheville, in 1908. Equally prolific, the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, New York, staffed the Catholic School in Newton Grove in 1907, founded Sacred Heart Academy (now the Cathedral School and Cardinal Gibbons High School) in Raleighâ€"1909, and began Immaculata School in Durham in 1909. In 1926, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA, staffed St. Joseph’s School, New Bern, for “colored children.†This school had been opened by Father Thomas Frederick Prince in 1887 and was staffed by lay people until the I.H.M. Sisters came. In 1927 they also founded schools serving black children in Goldsboro and Washington, North Carolina, as well as another New Bern school (St. Paul’s) and a school in Raleigh (St. Monica’s).
See also
- Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
- List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States
- List of Roman Catholic archdioceses (by country and continent)
- List of Roman Catholic dioceses (alphabetical) (including archdioceses)
- List of Roman Catholic dioceses (structured view) (including archdioceses)
References
Bibliography
Sources and external links
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh Official Site
- GCatholic with Google map
- Catholic Hierarchy of Raleigh, North Carolina
- NC Catholic Magazine