Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

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Archdiocese of Boston

Archidioecesis Bostoniensis
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.svg
Coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Boston
Location
Country United States
Territory Counties of Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Plymouth (the towns of Mattapoisett, Marion, and Wareham excepted)[1]
Ecclesiastical province Boston
Statistics
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Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2013)
4,240,000
1,906,372 (45%)
Parishes 288
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established April 8, 1808
Cathedral Cathedral of the Holy Cross
Patron saint Saint Patrick
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop Seán Patrick O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap.
Auxiliary Bishops John Anthony Dooher
Robert Francis Hennessey
Arthur Leo Kennedy
Peter John Uglietto
Vicar General Peter John Uglietto
Emeritus Bishops Emilio S. Allué
Francis Xavier Irwin
Walter James Edyvean
Map
Archdiocese of Boston map 1.jpg
Website
BostonCatholic.org

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (Latin: Archidioecesis Bostoniensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It comprises several counties of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is led by a prelate archbishop who serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End of Boston.

As of 2009, there are 292 parishes in the archdiocese.[2] In 2007, the archdiocese estimated that 1.8 million Catholics were in the territory, of whom about 315,000 regularly attended Mass.[3]

History

Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston

The original Diocese of Boston was canonically erected on April 8, 1808 by Pope Pius VII. It took its territories from the larger historic Diocese of Baltimore and consisted of the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

In the nineteenth century, as Catholicism grew exponentially in New England, the Diocese of Boston was carved into smaller new dioceses: on November 28, 1843, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Hartford; Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Burlington and the Diocese of Portland on July 29, 1853, the Diocese of Springfield on June 14, 1870, and the Diocese of Providence on February 16, 1872. On February 12, 1875, Pope Pius IX elevated the diocese to the rank of an archdiocese.

At the beginning of the 21st century the archdiocese was shaken by accusations of sexual abuse by clergy that culminated in the resignation of its archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, on December 13, 2002. In September 2003, the Archdiocese settled over 500 abuse-related claims for $85 million.[4]

In June 2004, the archbishop's residence and the chancery in Brighton and surrounding lands were sold to Boston College, in part to defray costs associated with abuse cases.[5][6][7] The offices of the Archdiocese were moved to Braintree, Massachusetts; Saint John's Seminary remains on that property.

Communications media

The diocesan newspaper The Pilot has been published in Boston since 1829.

The Archdiocese's Catholic Television Center, founded in 1955, produces programs and operates the cable television network CatholicTV. From 1964 to 1966, it owned and operated a broadcast television station under the call letters WIHS-TV.

Ecclesiastical province

Ecclesiastical Province of Boston

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Further information: List of the Catholic bishops of the United States § Province of Boston

The Archdiocese of Boston is also metropolitan see for the Ecclesiastical province of Boston. This means that the archbishop of Boston is the metropolitan for the province. The suffragan dioceses in the province are the Diocese of Burlington, Diocese of Fall River, Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Portland, Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts, and the Diocese of Worcester.

List of pastoral regions

The Archdiocese of Boston is divided into five pastoral regions, each headed by an episcopal vicar.

Pastoral Region Episcopal vicar Location Parishes Notable parishes Catholic institutions of higher education High schools Elementary schools Cemeteries
Central Robert Francis Hennessey Boston (all neighborhoods), Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Winthrop 64 Cathedral, the Mission Church Boston College, Emmanuel College, Our Lady of Grace Seminary (Boston), St. John's Seminary 6 29 8
Merrimack Currently vacant northern portion of Essex County and the northeastern portion of Middlesex County 49 Merrimack College 3 (TBD) 4
North Peter John Uglietto southern portion of Essex County 64 Marian Court College 4 6 (?) 11
South John Anthony Dooher Plymouth County and most of Norfolk County 59 Labouré College 3 (TBD) 3
West Walter James Edyvean southern portion of Middlesex County and the western portion of Norfolk County 67 Regis College 3 11 7

Ordinaries

Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston

The following are lists of the bishops, Archbishops and Auxiliaries of Boston and their years of service.

Bishops

  1. Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus (1808–1823) appointed Bishop of Montauban, France
  2. Benedict Joseph Fenwick, S.J. (1825–1846) died
  3. John Bernard Fitzpatrick (1846–1866) died

Archbishops

  1. John Joseph Williams (1866–1907) died
  2. Cardinal William Henry O'Connell (1907–1944) died
  3. Cardinal Richard Cushing (1944–1970) retired
  4. Cardinal Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970–1983) died
  5. Cardinal Bernard Francis Law (1984–2002) resigned, appointed Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in 2004
  6. Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, O.F.M.Cap. (2003–present)

Auxiliary Bishops

Seminaries

Education

As of 2012, the diocese has 124 schools with about 43,000 students in pre-kindergarten through high school.[8]

In 1993 the archdiocese had 53,569 students in 195 archdiocesean parochial schools. Boston had the largest number of parochial schools: 48 schools with a combined total of about 16,000 students.[9]

Superintendents

  • Br. Bartholomew Varden, C.F.X. (c. 1973–1975)[10]
  • Eugene F. Sullivan (1978–1984)[11][12]
  • Sr. Kathleen Carr, CSJ (1990–2006)[13]
  • Mary Grassa O'Neill (2008–2014)[14]
  • Mary E. Moran (2013–2014)[14]
  • Kathleen Power Mears (2014–present)[14]

High schools

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Former high schools

See also

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References

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  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Diocesan headquarters sold to BC The Boston Globe, April 21, 2004.
  6. ↑ Statement of the Archdiocese of Boston and Boston College on sale of part of Brighton campus The Boston Globe, April 20, 2004.]
  7. ↑ Oslin, Reid, "Campus Construction Update: Stokes, Brighton Campus Projects Begin", The Boston College Chronicle, September 9, 2010
  8. ↑ http://catholicschoolsboston.org/mission.html
  9. ↑ Nealon, Patricia. "Parochial pupils add X factor to city school-choice equation." Boston Globe. April 28, 1993. Retrieved on September 28, 2013.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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