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Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:06, 8 April 2023

Catholic ecclesiastical territory

Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana Diœcesis Alexandrina in Louisiana
St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Parishes of Avoyelles, Rapides, Vernon, Natchitoches, Winn, Caldwell, Madison, Franklin, Tensas, Concordia, Catahoula Parish, Lasalle, Grant
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of New Orleans
Statistics
Area	28,780 sq mi (74,500 km2)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 395,000 44,600 (11.3%)
Parishes	50
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	1853
Cathedral	St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
Patron saint	St. Francis Xavier
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Robert W. Marshall
Metropolitan Archbishop	Gregory Michael Aymond
Map
Website
diocesealex.org

Former names: Diocese of Natchitoches (1853-1910), Diocese of Alexandria (1910-1977), Diocese of Alexandria-Shreveport (1977-1986).

The Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in central Louisiana in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The diocesan cathedral is St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Alexandria, Louisiana. It also has a former cathedral and minor basilica: the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Statistics

The Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana has a total area of 27,810 km². It covers the following civil parishes:

Avoyelles, Rapides, Vernon, Natchitoches, Winn, Caldwell, Madison, Franklin, Tensas, Concordia, Catahoula, LaSalle, and Grant.

As of 2014, the diocese had a Catholic population of 42,929 (11.2% of the total diocese population of 383,421) in 50 parishes. It had 71 priests (61 diocesan, ten religious), 19 deacons, 43 lay religious (14 brothers and 29 sisters) and 10 seminarians.^[1]

History

1700 to 1800

Antonio Margil was the first priest to minister within the territory now forming the diocese. From the Ays Indians, west of the Sabine river, Father Margil heard of the Adayes Indians, and in March, 1717, he located them near Spanish Lake, in what became Sabine Parish, Louisiana, founded the mission of San Miguel de Linares and built there probably the first church in Louisiana, for according to the historian Martin, when Pere Charlevoix reached New Orleans in 1721, he found there "about 100 cabins, two or three dwelling houses and a miserable storehouse which had been at first occupied as a chapel, a shed being now used for that purpose". Leaving Father Gusman in charge, Father Margil journeyed on foot to Natchitoches to minister to the French Catholics there, and then went back to Texas.

In 1718, during a brief war with Spain, French soldiers plundered the Adayes mission, stealing the church vestments and scaring off the congregants. When Margil returned in 1721, he persuaded the Adayes people to return to the mission and rebuilt the church, dedicating it to Our Lady of the Pillar. For many years afterward the Adayes mission was attended from San Antonio by the Franciscans, who attended also the missions of Nacogdoches and St. Augustin, Texas. In 1725 there were 50 Catholic families at Natchitoches. In 1728 Father Maximin, a Capuchin, was in charge.

There is no record to show how the eastern portion of the diocese was evangelized, but the Catholic names given to villages and lakes contiguous to the Mississippi indicate that priests must have visited that country. The priests probably were Jesuits, as they had charge of the Indians along the Mississippi under the Bishop of Quebec in the 18th century.

1800 to 1850

The records show that in 1829 Father Martin of Avoyelles attended the Catholics on the Red, Black and Ouachita rivers; that, in 1840 and after, Father J. Timon, afterwards Bishop of Buffalo, made regular trips from Texas to attend the north Louisiana missions, and that Father O'Brien, a Dominican from Louisville, attended yearly the Catholics along the Mississippi. The Catholics located on the rivers of the state often drifted to New Orleans on barges to have their marriages blessed and their children baptized, and come back cordelling their boats.

1850 to 1910

Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Natchitoches^[2] in 1853, taking most of the State of Louisiana from the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He appointed Augustus Martin from the Diocese of Vincennes as its first bishop.^[3] After taking office, Martin had one priest to cover the entire diocese. The Sisters of the Sacred Heart operated a convent at Natchitoches, and the Daughters of the Cross ran several convents in the diocese. During his 22-year-long tenure, Martin recruited priests and religious from Europe for the diocese, established a seminary to train native clergy, founded numerous missions, and erected a cathedral.^[4] Martin died in 1875.

The second bishop of Nachitoches was Reverend Francis Xavier Leray, appointed by Pius IX in 1876. After only two years in Natchitoches, the same pope named Leray in 1879 as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.^[5]There would be no bishop in Natchitoches for the next five years, until Reverend Anthony Durier of New Orleans was named by Pope Leo XIII in 1884.

In 1886, Durier ordered every parish in the diocese to establish a parochial school, and in 1889 he organized the first Catholic school board.^[6] He invited several religious orders to the diocese, such as the Sisters of Divine Providence, the Carmelites, and the Jesuits, who established schools in Alexandria, Mansfield, and Shreveport, all in Louisiana. He opened six schools for African-American children, with a total enrollment of more than 300 pupils in 1894.^[6] Durier also established seven new parishes and finished construction on the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Natchitoches, which he consecrated in September 1892.^[6]After Durier died in 1904, Pope Pius X named Reverend Cornelius Van de Ven as the next bishop of Natchitoches.

1910 to 1976

On August 6. 1910 Pope Pius X renamed the Diocese of Natchitoches as the Diocese of Alexandria. St. Francis Xavier Church became the new diocesan cathedral. Van de Ven recruited the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word to the diocese, where they established North Louisiana's first Catholic hospital (Schumpert Medical Center in Shreveport) and St. Joseph's orphanage.^[7] He promoted lay organizations and served as state chaplain of the Knights of Columbus.^[7] During his tenure, new churches and parochial schools were established for African-American Catholics in Marksville and Mansura, Louisiana. Van de Ven died in 1932.

The second bishop of Alexandria was Reverend Daniel Francis Desmond from the Archdiocese of Boston, named by Pope Pius IX in 1932. Desmond established ten new schools, 22 parishes, and 35 churches. He died in 1945. To replace Desmond, Pope Pius XII appointed Reverend Charles Greco of New Orleans as the next bishop of Alexandria. During his tenure, Greco established 33 parishes, over 125 churches and chapels, 100 convents and rectories, and seven health-care facilities.^[8] In 1954, he also founded St. Mary's Residential Training School in Clarks, Louisiana, and Holy Angels Residential Facility for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Shreveport.^[8] Greco resigned in 1973. Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Graves of the Diocese of Little Rock as the next bishop of Alexandria in 1973.

1976 to 1986

In 1976, Paul VI renamed the Diocese of Alexandria as the Diocese of Alexandria-Shreveport to reflect the population growth in Shreveport. The Church of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport was designated as the co-cathedral in the diocese. During his tenure, Graves established or improved continuing education for priests, offices for religious education and youth ministry, permanent diaconate program, and the communications apostolate in newspaper, radio, and television. Graves died in 1982. The second bishop of Alexandria-Shreveport was Auxiliary Bishop William Friend, named by Pope John Paul II that same year.

1986 to present

In 1986, John Paul II suppressed the Diocese of Alexandria-Shreveport and created two new dioceses: the Diocese of Shreveport and the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana. The pope appointed Friend as bishop of Shreveport and Reverend John Favalora of New Orleans as bishop of Alexandria in Louisiana.

After three years, John Paul II in 1989 named Favalora as bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg. To replace him in Alexandria in Louisiana, the pope selected Reverend Sam Jacobs of the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana. After becoming bishop, Jacobs held town meeting in every parish in the diocese to meet parishioners and hear their concerns. Under Jacobs, the diocese inaugurated the Steubenville South Youth Conference and constructed a new youth center at the Maryhill Renewal Center in Alexandria, to accommodate youth retreats.^[9]In 2003, John Paul II named Jacobs as bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

Sexual abuse

A 2002 article by the Dallas Morning News revealed that in 1998 Bishop Jacobs received an allegation of fondling against John Andries, a parish priest in Natchitoches Parish. Jacobs suspended Andries and removed him from his parish. However, after Andries received counseling and testing, Jacobs returned him to the same parish. Jacobs did not notify authorities about the accusation.^[10] In 2002, Andries was charged with touching and masturbating onto a sleeping boy at the family's house in Abbeville, Louisiana. The boy's family sued Jacobs and the diocese ^[11][10]

In February 2019, the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana released the names of 27 Catholic clergy who were accused of committing sexual abuse while serving in the diocese.^[12] Two clergy on this list were convicted while three others gave financial settlements to their victims.^[13] Three more names were added to this list in June 2019.^[14] In 2013, the Vatican ordered one accused priest, Reverend Frederick James Lyons, to follow a life of prayer and penance and stripped him of this title of protonotary apostolic supernumerary.^[15] Reverend Theodore Lelieveld, accused of committing sex abuse while serving in the diocese in the mid-1960's, was added to the clergy list in September 2019 after sex abuse allegations against him were deemed credible.^[16]

Bishops

Bishops of Natchitoches

1. Augustus Marie Martin (1853-1875)
2. Francis Xavier Leray (1876-1879), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop and later Archbishop of New Orleans
3. Anthony Durier (1884-1904)
4. Cornelius Van de Ven (1904-1910), title changed with title of see

Bishops of Alexandria

1. Cornelius Van de Ven (1910-1932)
2. Daniel Francis Desmond (1932-1945)
3. Charles Pasquale Greco (1946-1973)
4. Lawrence Preston Joseph Graves (1973-1976), title changed with title of see

Bishops of Alexandria-Shreveport

1. Lawrence Preston Joseph Graves (1976-1982)
2. William Benedict Friend (1982-1986), appointed Bishop of Shreveport

Bishops of Alexandria in Louisiana

1. John C. Favalora (1986-1989), appointed Bishop of Saint Petersburg and later Archbishop of Miami
2. Sam G. Jacobs (1989-2003), appointed Bishop of Houma–Thibodaux
3. Ronald Paul Herzog (2004-2017)
4. David Talley (2017-2019; coadjutor 2016-2017)
5. Robert W. Marshall (2020-present)

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana

Notes Arms was designed and adopted when the diocese was erected. Adopted 1853 Escutcheon Gules, a cross throughout Argent between four bells of the last; overall, at the center point, a crescent checky Sable and Or. Symbolism The red background represents the Red River that runs through the See City. The cross, for the Faith, divides the four bells that are taken from the arms of the Ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria, in Egypt, for which the City is named. Overall, at the center of the design is a black and gold (yellow) checky crescent, which is taken from the arms of the Spanish family "Xavier," and this symbol is used throughout ecclesiastical heraldry as the classic charge for Saint Francis Xavier, titular of the cathedral-church in Alexandria.

Catholic high schools

• Holy Savior Menard Central High School, Alexandria
• St. Joseph High School, Plaucheville
• St. Mary's High School, Natchitoches

See also

• namesake Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall in Ontario, Canada
• List of Catholic dioceses in the United States

References

Sources and external links

• GCatholic, with Google map and satellite photo - data for most sections
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria Official Site

31°17′34″N 92°27′33″W / 31.29278°N 92.45917°W / 31.29278; -92.45917