The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (''Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia'') is an

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It encompasses the western part of the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, from the summit of the Cascades to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. The Archbishop of Portland serves as the Ordinary of the archdiocese and

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

of the Ecclesiastical Province of Portland whose

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

dioceses cover the entire three states of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

, and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. The dioceses of the province include

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Si ...

(eastern Oregon), Boise (

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * H ...

(western

), and Great Falls-Billings (eastern

). As published in the 2013 "Oregon Catholic Directory," this archdiocese serves 412,725 Catholics (out of more than 3.3 million people). There are 150 diocesan priests, 144 religious priests, 79 permanent deacons, 388 women religious, and 78 religious brothers. The archdiocese has 124 parishes, 22 missions, 1 seminary, 40 elementary schools, 10 secondary schools, and 2 Catholic colleges.

History

There were thirteen Canadians in John Jacob Astor's expedition of 1810. Most were Catholic, and many, like Étienne Lucier, settled in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

. By 1829, Lucier had established a permanent land claim next to the Willamette Fur Post near Champoeg on the French Prairie. On March 22, 1836, he and 15 other French Canadian settlers on the petitioned sent to Norbert Provencher, the titular Bishop of Juliopolis, to request a priest for the settlement. Missionary priests, Rev.

François Norbert Blanchet François Norbert Blanchet (September 30, 1795 – June 18, 1883) was a French Canadian-born missionary priest and prelate of the Catholic Church who was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church presence in the Pacific Northwest. He was on ...

and Rev. Modeste Demers arrived at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of ...

on November 24, 1838. On December 1, 1843, the Vatican established the Vicariate Apostolic of the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

with Rev. Msgr. Blanchet as its first

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pr ...

. A Vicar Apostolic is a bishop in a territory which has not yet been organized as a diocese. The following year, Rev. Pierre-Jean DeSmet, S.J., and fellow priests and Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur arrived in Astoria from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. On 24 July 1846, the vicariate was transformed into a province comprising the Archdiocese of Oregon City and the Dioceses of Walla Walla and Vancouver's Island.O'Hara, Edwin. "Archdiocese of Oregon City." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 22 June 2019 That year St. Paul Church was erected. Rapid growth in the

led to the loss of territory of the Archdiocese of Oregon City from which the Vatican created the Vicariate Apostolic of

and

on March 3, 1868. In 1870, ''

Catholic Sentinel The ''Catholic Sentinel'' was the Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland. Reportedly the oldest Catholic newspaper on the West Coast, it was published by Oregon Catholic Press, which also published ''El Centinela'', a Spanish-languag ...

'' was founded as the official newspaper of the archdiocese. St. Boniface Church was erected in Sublimity, Oregon in 1889.

20th century

Further territory was lost when the Diocese of Baker City was created on June 19, 1903. St. Mary's Church in Mount Angel was erected in 1912. Following the death of Archbishop Alexander Christie, Edward Daniel Howard was appointed the fifth Archbishop of Oregon City on April 30, 1926. His installation took place at St. Mary's Cathedral in Portland on August 26 of that year. On September 26, 1928, the name of the archdiocese was changed from ''Oregon City'' to ''Portland in Oregon'', "in Oregon" being added because there was another diocese called Portland (in Maine). During his tenure as archbishop, Howard created a chancery in the cathedral

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically o ...

, later transferring it to a separate building. He reorganized the St. Vincent de Paul and Holy Name Societies, fostered the growth of

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and s ...

, and removed the ''

'' from private ownership. In 1931, Howard led a successful campaign to repeal local zoning ordinances that prohibited the building of churches and parochial schools. He convened the Fourth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1932, and held a

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mean ...

for the clergy in 1935. In 1939, he founded Central Catholic High School in Portland and was named an

Assistant at the Pontifical Throne The Bishops-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne were ecclesiastical titles in the Roman Catholic Church. It designated prelates belonging to the Papal Chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions. They ranked immediately belo ...

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

in 1939. He convened the Fifth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1957, and attended all four sessions of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

between 1962 and 1965.

21st century

Bankruptcy

The Archdiocese's sexual abuse scandal prompted the archbishop to file for Chapter 11 reorganization on July 6, 2004. Portland became the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy. Archbishop Vlazny described his actions by saying, "This is not an effort to avoid responsibility. It is, in fact, the only way I can assure that other claimants can be offered fair compensation." In February 2009, the Oregon Jesuit Province also filed for bankruptcy as well.

=Clergy sexual abuse settlements

= In April 2007, the archdiocese announced a settlement had been reached and the bankruptcy court had approved a financial plan of reorganization.$71.45 million was paid to 169 victims, averaging $342,000 each; this is the 8th largest Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse settlements in the history of the U.S. Diocesan bankruptcy filings list 11 priests as perpetrators. In March 2011, the Oregon Jesuit Province agreed to pay $166.1 million in damages to nearly 500 sex abuse victims. On January 29, 2013, Bishop Alexander Sample was appointed by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

to be the new Archbishop of Portland, succeeding John George Vlazny, whose resignation was accepted at the same time. On August 6, 2016, World Spark, a retirement home provider run by Portland priest Michael Maslowsky, was forced to surrender documents showing that there had been numerous complaints of sex abuse against vulnerable residents at World Spark's St. Anthony Village elderly home, including some with dementia, between 2009 and 2016.https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/elderjustice/legacy/2016/01/08/Oregon_Marre_Memorandum.pdf By order, the documents were given to a plaintiff from a lawsuit which began in 2014. On October 1, 2018, it was revealed that Pope Francis had defrocked Maslowsky on June 4, 2018. In 2018, Portland Archbishop Alexander King Sample acknowledged the history of sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Portland, which he described as an "institutional and spiritual" failure, and issued an apology. At the same time, it was reported that more than 100 sex abuse lawsuits were settled prior to the 2004 bankruptcy. More settlements were later issued in August 2019 when the Archdiocese of Portland agreed to pay nearly $4 million to eight men who claimed they were sexually abused by Rev. Pius Brazaukus in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Bishops

Apostolic Vicar of Oregon Country

# Francis Norbert Blanchet, appointed Bishop of Oregon City

Bishop of Oregon City

# François Norbert Blanchet (1846-1850), elevated to

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

Archbishops of Oregon City

# François Norbert Blanchet (1850-1880) # Charles John Seghers (1880-1884) # William Hickley Gross, C.Ss.R. (1885-1898) # Alexander Christie (1899-1925) # Edward D. Howard (1926-1928), title changed with title of archdiocese

Archbishops of Portland in Oregon

# Edward D. Howard (1928-1966) # Robert Dwyer (1966-1974) # Cornelius M. Power (1974-1986) # William J. Levada (1986-1995), appointed

Archbishop of San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco ( Latin: ''Archdiœcesis Sancti Francisci''; Spanish: ''Archidiócesis de San Francisco'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the ...

and later

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsib ...

(elevated to

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

in 2006) # Francis George,

OMI is a hereditary noble title ('' kabane'') of ancient Japan. It was given to the descendants of the Imperial Family before Emperor Kōgen. Along with ''Muraji'', ''Omi'' was reserved for the head of the most powerful clans during the Kofun period ...

(1996-1997), appointed

Archbishop of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 an ...

(

in 1998) # John G. Vlazny (1997-2013) # Alexander K. Sample (2013–present)

Current auxiliary bishop

* Peter Leslie Smith (2014–present)

Former auxiliary bishops

* Paul Edward Waldschmidt, CSC (1977-1990) * Kenneth Steiner (1977-2011)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Edward John O'Dea, appointed Bishop of Nesqually in 1896 * Charles Joseph O'Reilly, appointed Bishop of Baker City in 1903 and later

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

Edwin Vincent O'Hara Edwin Vincent O'Hara (September 6, 1881 – September 11, 1956) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls in Montana from 1930 to 1939 and bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City in M ...

, appointed Bishop of Great Falls in 1930 * Francis Peter Leipzig, appointed Bishop of Baker City in 1950 * Liam S. Cary, appointed Bishop of Baker in 2012

High schools

* Blanchet Catholic School, Salem * Central Catholic High School, Portland *

De La Salle North Catholic High School De La Salle North High School is a private, coeducational, Roman Catholic high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland. The school is located in the Cully neighborhood, co-locating wit ...

, Portland * Jesuit High School, Portland * La Salle High School, Milwaukie * Marist Catholic High School, Eugene * Regis High School, Stayton * St. Mary's Academy, Portland * St. Mary's High School, Medford * Valley Catholic School, Beaverton

References

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland Official Site

bankruptcy proceedings

Catholic Sentinel
- official newspaper
Committee of Parishioners in Western Oregon
, formed to participate in the Archdiocese's bankruptcy case

on the status of Chapter 11 reorganization {{authority control Archdiocese of Portland

Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (''Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia'') is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It encompasses the western part of the state of Oregon, from t ...

Christian organizations established in 1928 1928 establishments in Oregon Portland

Portland Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Christianity in Portland, Oregon Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004