The Diocese of Savannah is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese 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 southern

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., ...

comprising 90 of the southern counties of the state of Georgia.The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah
, Savannah, Georgia: Catholic Diocese of Savannah, 2013, Retrieved 1 January 2014. It is led by a prelate bishop who serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist in the city of Savannah. The Diocese of Savannah is a suffragan diocese part of the ecclesiastical province under the

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 ...

Archdiocese of Atlanta 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 associate ...

Demographics

Today the Diocese of Savannah comprises 90 counties in south Georgia. It covers . There are 56 parishes and 21 missions within the diocese, serving about 78,347 lay Catholics.

History

Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Savannah on 3 July 1850, taking the state of Georgia from the Diocese of Charleston and the state of Florida, less the panhandle region, from the Diocese of Mobile and making it a suffragan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, on 3 July 1850.''The Archdiocese of Atlanta: A history'', Strasbourg, France: Editions du Signe, Archdiocese of Atlanta, 2006. On 9 January 1857, the same pope erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Florida, taking the territory that was in Florida from the Diocese of Savannah. Pope Pius XI changed title of the diocese to Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta on 5 January 1937, reflecting the growth of the Catholic population of the state and the rising prominence of the city of Atlanta. At that time, the pope designated the Church of Christ the King in Atlanta as the co-cathedral in the second see. With continued growth in the number of Catholics in the northern counties of Georgia, Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Atlanta, taking the northern part of Georgia from the existing diocese and changing the title of the existing diocese back to Diocese of Savannah, on July 2, 1956, and created the Diocese of Savannah and the Diocese of Atlanta. On 10 February 1962,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

elevated the Diocese of Atlanta to a metropolitan archdiocese, creating an ecclesiastical province of the same name, and designated the Diocese of Savannah as one of its suffragans.

Sexual abuse

In 2004 it was reported that the Diocese had paid a total of $50,000 to 12 people who accused 6 priests who served in the Diocese of sexually abusing them. One accused clergy, Wayland Brown was convicted and died in prison in 2019. Another accused clergy, Lorenzo Garcia, was defrocked in 2008 without facing any criminal punishment. Henry Groomer, another Catholic clergyman who was accused of sexual abuse, committed suicide in 2017 after being served with a lawsuit.

Bishops

Bishops of Savannah

From 1937 to 1956, this diocese was the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. In 1956, it became the Diocese of Savannah again when Atlanta split off as a separate diocese. #

Francis Xavier Gartland Francis Xavier Gartland (January 13, 1805 – September 20, 1854) was an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, covering Georgia and Eastern Florida, from 1850 until his d ...

(1850–1854) # John Barry (1857–1859) #

Augustin Verot Jean Marcel Pierre Auguste Vérot, known commonly as Augustin Verot, (May 1804 – June 10, 1876) was a French-born American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the first bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida (1870–1876 ...

(1861–1870), appointed Bishop of Saint Augustine # Ignatius Persico (1870–1874) # William Hickley Gross, C.Ss.R. (1873–1885), appointed Archbishop of Oregon City # Thomas Albert Andrew Becker (1886–1899) # Benjamin Joseph Keiley (1900–1922) # Michael Joseph Keyes, S.M. (1922–1935) #

Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (May 4, 1895 – July 16, 1963) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (1929-1935), as bishop of the Diocese of Savannah in Georgia ...

(1935–1959), Archbishop (personal title) in 1950; appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland and later

Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international ...

to Great Britain # Thomas Joseph McDonough (1960–1967), appointed Archbishop of Louisville # Gerard Louis Frey (1967–1972), appointed Bishop of Lafayette in Louisiana # Raymond W. Lessard (1973–1995) # J. Kevin Boland (1995–2011) # Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM Conv. (2011–2020), appointed

Archbishop of Atlanta 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 ...

# Stephen D. Parkes (2020–present)

Auxiliary bishops

* Francis Edward Hyland (1949–1956), appointed Bishop of Atlanta * Thomas Joseph McDonough (1957–1960), appointed Bishop of Savannah

Other bishops who were priests of this diocese

Andrew Joseph McDonald Andrew Joseph McDonald (October 24, 1923 – April 1, 2014) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas from 1972 to 2000. Biography Early life The second youngest of 12 child ...

, appointed Bishop of Little Rock in 1972 * Emmet M. Walsh, appointed Bishop of Charleston in 1927 and later Coadjutor Bishop of Youngstown succeeding to that see

Clergy and religious

The current number of priests stands at 102. Of these, 90 are serving actively, while 22 priests are in retirement status. There are 75 men that serve the diocese as members of the permanent

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chu ...

, as well as 82 religious (mostly nuns).

High schools

There are 5 Catholic high schools and 16 elementary schools in the diocese, serving over 6,000 students. * Aquinas High School, Augusta *

Benedictine Military School Benedictine Military School (also referred to as Benedictine or BC) is an American Roman Catholic military high school for boys located in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1902 by the Benedictine monks of Savannah Priory, wh ...

, Savannah * Mount de Sales Academy, Macon * Pacelli High School, Columbus *

St. Vincent's Academy St. Vincent's Academy (SVA) is a private, Catholic, all-girls high school located next to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in downtown Savannah, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1845 when Father Jeremiah Francis O’Neill brought six Si ...

, Savannah

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah Official Site
{{authority control Savannah

Diocese of Savannah The Diocese of Savannah is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the southern United States comprising 90 of the southern counties of the state of Georgia.

Culture of Savannah, Georgia Savannah Savannah Savannah 1850 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)