The Diocese of Cheyenne ( la, Dioecesis Cheyennensis) 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 entire

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. It is

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 ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

of the metropolitan

Archdiocese of Denver The Archdiocese of Denver ( la, Archidiœcesis Denveriensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church that encompasses northern Colorado. It is part of the XIII Conference Region and includes 113 parishes, 3 ...

. The

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metro ...

is St. Mary's Cathedral, located in

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

History

Background

As part of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

, the area was theoretically under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas in New Orleans. In 1827, it was placed under the Bishop of St. Louis. On 5 July 1840, Jesuit missionary

Pierre-Jean De Smet Pierre-Jean De Smet, SJ ( ; 30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Flemish Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for his widespread missionary work in the mid-19th ...

offered the first

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

, a mile east of

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

, a town in the west-central part of the present state. A monument to the event was later erected on this site.

Lake De Smet Lake De Smet is a lake located in Johnson County, Wyoming. It services Johnson County with water for industrial, agricultural, and municipal uses. With a maximum depth of 120 feet, and a capacity of 234,897 acre feet, Johnson County is responsible ...

is named after him. In 1851,

John Baptist Miège John Baptist Miège, S.J. (September 18, 1815 – July 21, 1884), was a Jesuit prelate and missionary. In addition to a career in education, he served as Vicar Apostolic of Kansas from 1851 to 1874. Early life Miège was born in a house cal ...

was installed, in a ceremony in St. Louis, as Vicar Apostolic for the Indian Territory east of the Rocky Mountains. The vicariate included the present states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, that part of North and South Dakota west of the Missouri River, Wyoming, Montana, and a part of Colorado. On January 6, 1857

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

established the Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska from the Apostolic Vicariate of Indian Territory (East of the Rocky Mountains). In 1859,

James Myles O'Gorman James Myles O'Gorman, O.C.S.O. (October 4, 1804 – July 4, 1874) was an Irish-born bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Nebraska Territory (now known as the Archdiocese of Omaha) from 1859 ...

O.C.S.O., prior of

New Melleray Abbey New Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery located near Dubuque, Iowa. The abbey is located about 15 miles southwest of Dubuque and is in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Currently the Abbey is home to about 16 monks. Several of the monks work in the ...

, near Dubuque, Iowa, was named Vicar Apostolic. In the autumn of 1867, Bishop O'Gorman assigned Rev. William Kelly as the first resident priest of

. Kelly's remit included visiting the railroad camps west of the town.Shine, Michael. "Chronological Notes", (1915)
/ref> Eugene Cusson, S.J., was the first resident priest in Laramie. In 1875, he persuaded the

Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth is a Catholic religious institute based in Leavenworth, Kansas who follow in the tradition of Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac. A member of the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Se ...

to come to Laramie, where they opened a hospital in a house donated by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

. In 1884, the Jesuits established St. Stephens Mission on the

Wind River Indian Reservation The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone ( shh, Gweechoon Deka, ''meaning: "buffalo eaters"'') and the Northern Arapaho ( arp, h ...

. The Nebraska vicariate was elevated to a diocese and renamed as the

Diocese of Omaha The Archdiocese of Omaha ( la, Archidioecesis Omahensis) is Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its current archbishop, George Joseph Lucas, was installed in Omaha on July 22, 2009. The ar ...

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

on October 2, 1885. At the time, the diocese included all of Nebraska and Wyoming. On August 2, 1887, Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Cheyenne from territory that had been a part of the Diocese of Omaha.

Reports of sex abuse

In June 2019, the Diocese of Cheyenne released the names of 11 priests who were accused of committing acts of sex abuse while serving in the Diocese. Gerald Chleborad, an accused former Jackson priest who was transferred to Colorado in at least the early 2000s, had previously been arrested in Wyoming in 1995 for displaying

public lewdness Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...

and had been accused of molesting children in the Diocese of Cheyenne between 1984 and 1985 and between 1995 and 2003 as well. In July 2019, Bishop Steven Biegler acknowledged in a handwritten statement the history of sex abuse in the Diocese of Cheyenne and apologized. In August 2019, Cheyenne police recommended criminal charges be filed against former Bishop

Joseph Hart Joseph Hart (1711/12 – 24 May 1768) was a Calvinist minister in London. His works include ''Hart's Hymns'', a much-loved hymn book amongst evangelical Christians throughout its lifetime of over 200 years, which includes the well-known hy ...

. Pope Francis had authorized a canonical penal process against Hart by June 2019 as well. The original list of "credibly accused clergy" included 30 victims, 29 of whom were male and female minors, with more victims coming out in August 2019 as well. Hart's successor David Ricken, who wrote a letter defending Hart and who was later made Bishop of the

Roman Catholic 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 County, Wisconsin, Kewaunee, Lan ...

, has also come under scrutiny for quite possibly obstructing a previous criminal investigation against Hart which occurred in 2002.

Statistics and extent

As of 2014, it pastorally served 54,995 Catholics (9.5% of 576,412 total) on 252,552 km² in 37 parishes, 64 priests (61 diocesan, 3 religious), 37 deacons, 17 lay religious (3 brothers, 14 sisters), 10 seminarians.http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/chey0.htm GCatholic The diocese covers the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, as well as the parts of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

in Montana and Idaho.

Bishops

Bishops of Cheyenne

Maurice Francis Burke Maurice Francis Burke (May 5, 1845 – March 17, 1923) was an Ireland, Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming (1887–1893) and as bishop o ...

(1887-1893), appointed Bishop of Saint Joseph # Thomas Mathias Lenihan (1896-1901) # James Keane (1902-1911), appointed

Archbishop of Dubuque The Archdiocese of Dubuque ( la, Archidiœcesis Dubuquensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It includes all the Iowa counti ...

# Patrick McGovern (1912-1951) # Hubert Newell (1951-1978) #

Joseph Hubert Hart Joseph Hubert Hart (born September 26, 1931) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming from 1978 to 2001 and as auxiliary bishop of the same diocese from 1976 to 1978. Hart f ...

(1978-2001) #

David L. Ricken David Laurin Ricken (born November 9, 1952) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin since 2008. Ricken previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming ...

(2001-2008;

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

2000-2001), appointed Bishop of Green Bay # Paul D. Etienne (2009-2016), appointed Archbishop of Anchorage # Steven Biegler (2017–present)

Former Auxiliary Bishops of Cheyenne

(1976-1978), appointed Bishop of Cheyenne (see above)

References

Sources and external links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne Official Site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyenne, Roman Catholic Diocese Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Denver

Roman Catholic Diocese As of October 5, 2021, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,171 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,248 dioceses, as well as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, ap ...

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne The Diocese of Cheyenne ( la, Dioecesis Cheyennensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that encompasses the entire U.S. state of Wyoming. It is suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the met ...