The Diocese of Superior ( la, Dioecesis Superiorensis) is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

ecclesiastical territory or

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, pro ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

that encompasses the city of Superior and the counties of Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett,

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Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida Na ...

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Polk Polk may refer to: People * James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States * Polk (name), other people with the name Places *Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois * Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Polk, Missouri ...

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the UK, the name also refers to a whea ...

Sawyer *A sawyer (occupation) is someone who saws wood. *Sawyer, a fallen tree stuck on the bottom of a river, where it constitutes a danger to boating. Places in the United States Communities *Sawyer, Kansas *Sawyer, Kentucky * Sawyer, Michigan * Saw ...

St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) Pl ...

, Vilas, and

Washburn Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influen ...

in northern

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, with an area of . Its

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

is Superior, and the Cathedral of Christ the King in Superior is its mother church. It is a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ...

of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

History

The diocese was established on May 3, 1905 by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

. It was created from the northern part of the

Diocese of La Crosse The Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse ( la, Dioecesis Crossensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese (Roman Rite) of the Catholic Church encompassing the city of La Crosse and 19 counties: Adams, Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Crawford, Dunn, Eau Cl ...

and the northwestern part of the

Diocese of Green Bay The Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay ( la, Diocesis Sinus Viridis) was established on March 3, 1868, by Pope Pius IX. It covers the city of Green Bay, as well as Brown, Calumet, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee, Langlade, Manitowoc, Mar ...

, with

Augustine Francis Schinner Augustine Francis Schinner (May 1, 1863 – February 7, 1937) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Superior in Wisconsin from 1905 to 1913 and as the first bishop of the Diocese ...

as the first bishop. Prior to the official founding of the diocese in 1905, there had already been a rich history of Catholicism in the region. Centuries earlier,

Catholic missionaries Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...

had forged a dynamic presence throughout the Lake Superior region of Wisconsin. The early history of Catholicism in the state of Wisconsin started within the territory that the Diocese of Superior now encompasses, with the arrival of Father René Menard in 1661. Fr. Menard was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary who came to North America to evangelize the Native American population, and was fluent in the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

, and

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

dialects. After spending the winter of 1660–1661 in the

Upper Peninsula of Michigan The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

, some historical accounts have Fr. Menard venturing in the spring of 1661 to Chequamegon Bay, near Ashland. Although his time there was short, he cleared the path for fellow Jesuits who followed him. In 1665, Fr. Claude Allouez started a Catholic mission near Chequamegon Bay, and named it the ''Mission of the Holy Ghost''. The exact location of the mission remains a mystery, although historians have speculated it was located at La Pointe, on

Madeline Island ''Madeline'' is a media franchise that originated as a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian-American author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series a ...

. Historically, Madeline Island was a spiritual center for the

Lake Superior Chippewa The Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe: Gichigamiwininiwag) are a large number of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) bands living around Lake Superior; this territory is considered part of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. They ...

. In 1669, Fr. Jacques Marquette arrived at the ''Mission of the Holy Ghost'', upon the departure of Fr. Allouez to the Fox River Valley. Fr. Marquette found success in his work among the native people, and baptized over 1,000 converts. During this time, the region was being overseen by French Catholic leaders in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, which became a diocese in 1674, encompassing all of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. In 1791, the region was transferred to the Diocese of Baltimore, which was the first Catholic diocese created in the then-newly formed

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1843, the Diocese of Milwaukee was established, and consisted of the entire state of Wisconsin. Northern Wisconsin remained within the Diocese of Milwaukee, until the formation of the Diocese of Lacrosse, and the

, which then served the northern region. Finally, in 1905, the Diocese of Superior was created by

, encompassing 16 counties in northern Wisconsin. The oldest Catholic congregation in the state of Wisconsin (in continuous operation to the present-day) is within the Diocese of Superior. On July 27, 1836, Fr. Frederic Baraga arrived at La Pointe, and immediately set to work, building a log church. Fr. Baraga, like the Jesuit missionaries before him, had success evangelizing the native people. His congregation at La Pointe grew, and also included many early European immigrants, primarily French

Fur Traders The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...

. In 1838, Fr. Baraga built a larger church at La Pointe, on the spot of the present-day location of ''St. Joseph's Catholic Church''. The first Bishop to serve the Diocese of Superior was

, who was consecrated as Bishop on July 25, 1905. Bishop Schinner faced many challenges, as the head of the new diocese, including the need to recruit priests to serve the growing number of parishes throughout the diocese. By the time Bishop Schinner resigned as the bishop of Superior in 1913, he saw the pool of priests grow from 39 diocesan priests in 1905 to 62 in 1913. Today, there are now 105 parishes within the Diocese of Superior.

Reports of sex abuse

Lawrence Murphy, a priest from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, was transferred to the Diocese of Superior in 1974 after sex abuse allegations surfaced against him in the archdiocese. It was reported that Murphy, who died in 1998, continued sexually abusing children while serving in the Diocese of Superior as well. In February 2002, priest Ryan Erickson shot and killed two men at a funeral home in Hudson, WI. One of his victims, Daniel O'Connell, had earlier confronted him over allegations that Erickson had molested several local children. In 2004, Erickson hanged himself after coming under suspicion for the double homicide. In January 2019, The Diocese of Superior agreed to cooperate with authorities following the arrest of Diocese priest Tom Ericksen (no relation) on charges of sexually abusing children in the 1980s. These allegations against Ericksen, who was arrested in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

in November 2018, had also surfaced in 2010 as well.

Bishops

Bishops of Superior

(1905–1913) #

Joseph Maria Koudelka Joseph Maria Koudelka (December 7, 1852 – June 24, 1921) was a Czech-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Superior in Wisconsin from 1913 until his death in 1921. Koudelka previously serv ...

(1913–1921) # Joseph G. Pinten (1922–1926) # Theodore H. Reverman (1926–1941) #

William Patrick O'Connor William Patrick O'Connor (October 18, 1886 – July 13, 1973) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Superior in Wisconsin (1942–1946) and the first bishop of the new Diocese of Madis ...

(1942–1946), appointed Bishop of Madison #

Albert Gregory Meyer Albert Gregory Meyer (March 9, 1903 – April 9, 1965) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois from 1958 until his death in 1965, and was appointed a cardinal in 195 ...

(1946–1953), appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee and Archbishop of Chicago (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, the ...

in 1959) # Joseph John Annabring (1954–1959) #

George Albert Hammes George Albert Hammes (September 11, 1911 – April 11, 1993) was an American bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Superior from 1960 to 1985. Biography Born in St. Joseph, Wisconsin, Hammes was ordained to the priesth ...

(1960–1985) # Raphael Michael Fliss (1985–2007) # Peter F. Christensen (2007–2014), appointed Bishop of Boise #

James Patrick Powers James Patrick Powers (born February 6, 1953) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Superior in Wisconsin since 2016. Biography Early life James Powers was born in Baldwin, Wisconsin on F ...

(2016–present)

Media

* The Diocese of Superior publishes a bi-weekly newspaper, ''

The Superior Catholic Herald ''The Superior Catholic Herald'' is a Catholic bi-weekly newspaper, and is the official publication of the Diocese of Superior The Diocese of Superior ( la, Dioecesis Superiorensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the ...

'', which was founded in 1953. There are approximately 12,000 subscribers and an estimated readership of more than 36,000. * ''Real Presence Radio'' ( WWEN), broadcasts from

Wentworth, Wisconsin Wentworth is an unincorporated community, in the town of Amnicon, Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The community is located 16 miles east of the city of Superior. U.S. Highway 2 serves as a main route in the community.Rand McNally. ...

, and serves the

Duluth-Superior The Duluth MN-WI Metropolitan Area, commonly called the Twin Ports, is a small metropolitan area centered around the cities of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. The Twin Ports are located at the western part of Lake Superior (the weste ...

area.

Real Presence Radio Real Presence Radio is a lay apostolate Catholic talk radio network in the United States, with stations and translators (low power re-broadcasters) in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming covering five states and parts of ...

is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

network based in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

. The network also carries some programming from the national EWTN Radio network. * ''Holy Family Radio'' ( WWMD-LP), a 100-watt station, broadcasts from Ashland on 95.5 FM. The station is an affiliate of

Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...

, a Catholic Radio network based in Green Bay. Holy Family Educational Association, Inc. manages the station, which has been on the air since 2007 and reaches the Ashland and

area.

Demographics

The Diocese of Superior has a membership of 73,638 Catholics in 105 parishes. Eight of those parishes stand as single parish units, and 96 parishes have been combined to form 34 clusters. There are 46 priests and 65 permanent deacons. Within the diocese, there are 15 elementary schools, but no high schools or seminaries. There are 74 Catholic cemeteries.

Catholic schools

The Diocese of Superior operates 14 elementary schools, with a combined total of over 2,000 students. Catholic schools operate in the following communities: Park Falls Wisconsin School

* Ashland – Our Lady of the Lake School *

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

– St. Patrick School *

Ladysmith Ladysmith may refer to: * Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa * Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada * Ladysmith, Wisconsin, United States * Ladysmith, New South Wales, Australia * Ladysmith, Virginia, United States * Ladysmith Island, Queenslan ...

– Our Lady of Sorrows School * Medford – Holy Rosary School *

Merrill Merrill may refer to: Places in the United States * Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska * Merrill, Iowa *Merrill, Maine * Merrill, Michigan *Merrill, Mississippi, an unincorporated community near Lucedale in George County *Merrill, Oregon *Merrill, W ...

– St. Francis Xavier School * New Richmond – St. Mary School *

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

– St. Francis Solanus School * Rhinelander – Nativity of Our Lord School * Rice Lake – St. Joseph School * River Falls – St. Bridget School *

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

– St. Anne School * Spooner – St. Francis de Sales School * Superior – Cathedral School *

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...

– St. Mary School

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Superior Official SiteHistory of the Catholic Diocese of Superior, WisconsinChrist the King CathedralSuperior Catholic Herald newspaper

Arms

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese Of Superior Superior 1905 establishments in Wisconsin Christian organizations established in 1905 Superior Douglas County, Wisconsin