The Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama 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 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 that encompasses the northern 39 counties of the

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 sov ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

. It was erected on December 9, 1969, when it was split from what is now the Archdiocese of Mobile. The Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama is suffragan diocese in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sever ...

of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mobile. The Cathedral of Saint Paul, in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fro ...

serves as the

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, maki ...

of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama.

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

, a major Catholic media enterprise, has its studios in the borders of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama.

History

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

erected the Diocese of Birmingham, with territory taken from the Diocese of Mobile-Birmingham, on 28 June 1969, simultaneously renaming the mother diocese to Diocese of Mobile. On 29 July 1980,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

elevated the Diocese of Mobile to a metropolitan archdiocese and designated the Diocese of Birmingham as one of its suffragans.

Reports of sexual abuse

In 2004, four priests accused of sexual abuse who were serving in the Diocese of Birmingham agreed to pay a settlement of $45,000 to eleven of their victims. In December 2018, then-Birmingham Bishop Robert J. Baker released of list of six clergy who were accused of committing acts of sex abuse while serving the Diocese of Birmingham. Bishop Baker also acknowledged the abuse committed by these six priests, stating that "they committed these deplorable acts,” and apologized. Five were removed from ministry and one died. One accused priest who was later acquitted, Francis Mary Stone, was also revealed to have maintained his clerical status after violating his vow of celibacy and also fathering a child with an employee at EWTN while serving as a host of the network's show ''Life on the Rock''. After these revelations were made public, Stone was initially suspended from public ministry.

Bishops

Bishops of Birmingham

# Joseph Gregory Vath (1969–1987) #

Raymond James Boland Raymond James Boland (February 8, 1932 – February 27, 2014) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama from 1988 to 1993 and the fifth Bishop of the Diocese ...

(1988–1993), appointed Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph # David Edward Foley (1994–2005) # Robert Joseph Baker (2007–2020) # Steven John Raica (2020–present)

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops

* William McDermott, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Huancavélica in Peru in 1976 *

Joseph Marino Joseph Salvador Marino (born January 23, 1953) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who worked in the Foreign relations of the Holy See, Vatican diplomatic service from 1988 to 2019 and then served as president of the Pontifical E ...

, appointed

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

in 2008, later President of the

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy ( la, Pontificia Ecclesiastica Academia, it, Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic ...

Elementary schools

* Anniston: Sacred Heart School , 3K-8 * Bessemer: St. Aloysius School , 3K-8 * Birmingham: Holy Family Catholic Academy , 3K-8 (''Operated Independent of Diocese'') * Birmingham: Our Lady of Fatima , 4K-8 * Birmingham: Our Lady of Sorrows , 3K-8 * Birmingham: Our Lady of the Valley Catholic School , 3K-8 * Birmingham: St. Barnabas , 4K-8 * Birmingham: St. Francis Xavier , 5K-8 * Birmingham: St. Rose Academy , 4K-8 (''Operated Independent of Diocese'') * Cullman: Sacred Heart, Cullman , 3K-6 * Decatur: St. Ann School , 3K-8 * Florence: St. Joseph Regional School , 3K-8 * Gadsden: St. James School , 3K-8 * Hoover: Prince of Peace , 3K-8 * Huntsville: Holy Family Regional School , 4K-8 * Huntsville: Holy Spirit Regional School , 5K-8 * Madison: St. John the Baptist , 4K-8 * Tuscaloosa: Holy Spirit Catholic School , 3K-6

High schools

* Birmingham: John Carroll Catholic High School * Birmingham: Holy Family Cristo Rey High School (''Operated Independent of Diocese'') * Cullman: St. Bernard Preparatory School (''Operated Independent of Diocese'') * Huntsville: Pope John Paul II Catholic High School * McClellan: Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School * Tuscaloosa: Holy Spirit High School

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham Official Site
{{authority control Christian organizations established in 1969 Catholic Church in Alabama Birmingham Alabama

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Organizations based in Birmingham, Alabama