Diocese of Gaylord

The Diocese of Gaylord (Latin: Diœcesis Gaylordensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern region of Michigan in the United States. The diocese is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Detroit.

Diocese of Gaylord Diœcesis Gaylordensis
St. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Counties of Charlevoix, Emmet, Cheboygan, Presque Isle, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Crawford, Oscoda, Alcona, Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, and Iosco
Ecclesiastical province	Detroit
Statistics
Area	11,171 sq mi (28,930 km2)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2018) 506,623 46,095[1] (9.1%)
Parishes	75
Schools	17
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	December 19, 1970 (54 years ago)
Cathedral	St. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral
Patron saint	Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Secular priests	76
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Bishop	Jeffrey Walsh
Metropolitan Archbishop	Edward Weisenburger
Map
Website
dioceseofgaylord.org

Territory

The Diocese of Gaylord covers approximately 11,171 square miles (28,930 km²). It comprises the 21 most northern counties of the lower peninsula of the state, and includes the cities of Gaylord, Traverse City, Alpena, Manistee and Petoskey.

The diocese has a population of 505,000, 66,000 of whom are Catholic. It contains 77 parishes and 17 schools.^[1]

History

St. Mary's Church, the first cathedral in the diocese (2017)

Early history

During the 17th century, present-day Michigan was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec had jurisdiction over the region. In 1763, the Michigan area became part of the British Province of Quebec, forbidden from settlement by American colonists. After the American Revolution, the Michigan region became part of the new United States. For Catholics, Michigan was now under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which then comprised the entire country.

Pope Gregory XVI formed the Diocese of Detroit on March 8, 1833, covering the entire Michigan Territory. Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Grand Rapids on May 19, 1882, and Pope Pius XI formed the Diocese of Saginaw in 1938. These two diocese covered the Gaylord area.^{[citation needed]}

1971 to present

The Diocese of Gaylord was erected on July 20, 1971 from territory separated from the Dioceses of Saginaw and Grand Rapids.^[1] Edmund Szoka of the Diocese of Marquette was the first bishop and the church of St. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral was the cathedral. Szoka became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1981.

On October 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Robert John Rose as the second bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord.^[2] In 1989, Rose was transferred to the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Auxiliary Bishop Patrick R. Cooney of the Archdiocese of Detroit replaced him later that year.^[3] Cooney died in 2012.

On October 7, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named Bernard Hebda from the Diocese of Pittsburgh as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord.^[4] Hebda served in Gaylord until 2013, when he was appointed as coadjutor bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark by Pope Francis. The pope in 2014 named Steven J. Raica from the Diocese of Lansing as the next bishop of Gaylord. In 2020, Raica transferred to the Diocese of Birmingham.

The current bishop of Gaylord is Jeffrey Walsh from the Diocese of Scranton. He was appointed by Francis in 2022.

Sexual abuse

In 2002, Bishop Cooney allowed Gerald Shirilla to serve as pastor of a church with a school, despite the fact that the priest had been removed from the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1993 following decades-long allegations of sexual abuse.^[5] After the Detroit Free Press reported on the situation in 2003, Cooney said that Shirilla had made "some errors in judgment" but was "no threat to the well-being of our children." Two weeks later, Cooney suspended him from ministry.^[5]

Bishops

Bishops of Gaylord

1. Edmund Casimir Szoka (1971–1981), appointed Archbishop of Detroit and later President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and Governorate of Vatican City State (elevated to Cardinal in 1988)
2. Robert John Rose (1981–1989), appointed Bishop of Grand Rapids
3. Patrick R. Cooney (1989–2009)
4. Bernard Hebda (2009–2013), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Newark and later Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
5. Steven J. Raica (2014 – March 25, 2020),^[6] appointed Bishop of Birmingham
6. Jeffrey Walsh (2022–Present)

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

• Chad Zielinski, appointed Bishop of Fairbanks in 2014

High schools

• Catholic Central High School – Manistee
• St. Francis High School – Traverse City
• St. Mary Cathedral High School – Gaylord
• St. Mary High School – Lake Leelanau
• St. Michael Academy – Petoskey