The Archdiocese of Dubuque ( la, Archidiœcesis Dubuquensis) 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
archdiocese 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 ...
in the northeastern quarter of 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 ...
of
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
in 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
It includes all the Iowa counties north of
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, Missou ...
,
Jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...
,
Poweshiek,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
,
Johnson
Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...
,
Cedar
Cedar may refer to:
Trees and plants
*''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae
*Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar
Places United States
* Cedar, Arizona
* ...
, and
Clinton counties, and east of
Kossuth,
Humboldt,
Webster and
Boone counties. The archdiocese has an area of about .
The Archdiocese of Dubuque is a
metropolitan archdiocese
A metropolis religious jurisdiction, or a metropolitan archdiocese, is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces.
...
. There are three
suffragan dioceses 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 seve ...
under Dubuque's
metropolitan archbishop
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 ...
: the
Dioceses of Davenport,
Des Moines, and
Sioux City
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
.
Background
The seat of the archdiocese is
St. Raphael's Cathedral, Dubuque, named in honor of the
Archangel
Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
.
The twelfth and current
archbishop is
Michael Owen Jackels
Michael Owen Jackels (born April 13, 1954) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as the archbishop of Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa since 2013. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Wichita ...
.
Jackels completed a
Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the
Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, ''Angelicum'' in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1989.
On April 4, 2005, he was consecrated bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita
The Diocese of Wichita ( la, Dioecesis Wichitensis) is a Latin Catholic ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Kansas. It covers Allen, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Harpe ...
, USA.
The Archdiocese of Dubuque is one of only a handful of
US archdioceses not based in a major metropolitan area. The archdiocese contains 199 parishes and has three Catholic colleges:
Loras College
Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree ...
and
Clarke University in Dubuque and
Mount Mercy University
Mount Mercy University is a private Catholic liberal arts university in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1928.
Students take a core of liberal arts courses as a foundation for areas of study including English, fine arts, ...
in Cedar Rapids. A number of religious orders maintain a presence in the archdiocese.
Notable orders include the Trappist monastery
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 ...
(male) southwest of Dubuque, and the Trappistine monastery
Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey (female) south of Dubuque. The archdiocese is also home to the motherhouse of the
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known by its initials BVM, is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in the United States by Mother Mary Frances Clarke. Its founders were Irish Catholics. The BVM currently works in t ...
. The
Basilica of St. Francis Xavier
The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier is a parish church in the Archdiocese of Dubuque located in Dyersville, Iowa, United States. The church was named in honor of the missionary Saint Francis Xavier. It was raised to the status of a Minor Basilica, m ...
is located in the archdiocese, located in
Dyersville, about west of Dubuque.
History
Prior to the founding
During the years prior to the founding of the Dubuque Diocese, the area was under the jurisdiction of a number of bishops. Many of these were purely academic as no Catholic presence yet existed in the area. Most notable among these was the St. Louis Diocese under
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
Rosati. During the early 1830s it was under his jurisdiction that the early missionaries arrived in what would become the state of Iowa.
In the 1830s, the church studied how to address the expansion 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
into the western frontiers. Those conducting the study recommended to the pope that three new dioceses be created, one of which was the Dubuque Diocese. Father Charles Fitzmaurice established the Saint Raphael's parish at Dubuque in 1833. This was the first church of any
Christian denomination in the territory that would become the state of Iowa.
Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli
Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, O.P. (November 4, 1806 – February 23, 1864) was a pioneer Italian Dominican friar and Catholic missionary priest who helped bring the church to the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin tri-state area. He founded several parishes ...
was one of the most famous missionaries to work in the Dubuque area. He established a number of parishes in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin; several were named after the Archangels: Saint Raphael's in Dubuque, Saint Michael's at Galena, Illinois, and Saint Gabriel's at
Prairie du Chien
Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821.
Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...
, Wisconsin.
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 ...
declared Father Mazzuchelli ''
Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
'' in 1993, and his case for sainthood is pending.
Early years
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He ...
created the Dubuque Diocese on July 28, 1837, and named
Bishop Mathias Loras as its first bishop. Loras gathered funds and personnel for the new diocese, and he arrived in 1839. St. Raphael's became the cathedral parish in August of that year. He oversaw the expansion of the church in the early years of the diocese, first in the Iowa territory, then after 1846 in the new state of Iowa.
Bishop Loras encouraged immigration to the area, especially German and Irish settlers. He oversaw the creation of new parishes and also he invited several religious orders to the area. This included the
Cistercian order that built the
New Melleray Monastery south of Dubuque. Shortly before his death, he directed the construction of the third structure to house St. Raphael's Cathedral which remains today.
A second catholic parish was planned as the Uptown Catholic Parish to be located on the west side of Main Street between 7th and 8th streets in Dubuque. Loras planned the parish due to crowded conditions at the Cathedral. A cornerstone was laid for the parish church, but construction work never proceeded past the laying of the foundation. In 1850,
Pope Pius IX separated territory from the Diocese of Dubuque to form the new
Diocese of Saint Paul, serving
Minnesota Territory
The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Minnesota and west ...
(later
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and
the Dakotas
The Dakotas is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, econo ...
).
Expansion and elevation
In 1858, Bishop Smyth established Saint Francis Catholic Church in
Balltown. Rev. Clement Smyth,
OCSO
The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...
served as bishop from February 1858 to September 1865 and oversaw continued expansion of the Catholic Church in the diocese. During his episcopacy the German Catholics of the city of Dubuque began construction of a new Saint Mary's church to replace the too-small Church of the Holy Trinity.
In 1863, Smyth learned of the existence of the pro-Southern
Knights of the Golden Circle
The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective of which was to create a new country, known as the Golden Circle ( es, Círculo Dorado), where slavery would be legal. T ...
, with headquarters in Dubuque. He gave members who might be Catholic two weeks to withdraw from the organization or be automatically excommunicated.
After Bishop Smyth died in 1865, John Hennessey succeeded him as Bishop of Dubuque. During Hennessey's tenure, the population of Dubuque exploded as the Milwaukee Railroad Shops came to the city. Hennessey created several parishes in Dubuque: Sacred Heart, Holy Ghost, St. Anthony's, and Holy Trinity to deal with this population explosion. During this time, Bishop Hennessey proposed separating territory from the diocese to create a new diocese for southern Iowa. While he proposed
Des Moines as the seat of the new diocese,
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 ...
selected
Davenport as the site.
Nicholas E. Gonner (1835–1892), a Catholic immigrant from
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, founded the Catholic Publishing Company of Dubuque. His son Nicholas E. Gonner (1835–1892) took over in 1892, editing two German language weeklies, an English language weekly, and the ''Daily Tribune,'' the only Catholic daily newspaper ever published in the United States.
On June 15, 1893, Pope Leo XIII elevated the Dubuque Diocese to an archdiocese, and Bishop Hennessey became the first archbishop. Archbishop Hennessey died in 1900 and was buried at the cathedral.
Early 20th century
After the death of Archbishop Hennessey, Archbishop
John J. Keane led the archdiocese for eleven years until poor health forced him to retire in 1911. During his tenure, the archdiocese lost its western territory to form the
Diocese of Sioux City and achieved its current size.
The Great Depression and World War II
During the years of the
Great Depression and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Archbishop Francis J.L. Beckman occupied the see. In the years leading up to the war, Beckman opposed military action. A collector of fine art pieces, he had placed a number of art pieces in a museum at Columbia (now Loras) College and perhaps, thinking he could gain funds to further his collection, involved the archdiocese in what turned out to be a dubious gold mine scheme. Beckman signed notes on behalf of the archdiocese, which suffered a loss of more than $500,000 when the scheme fell apart and the perpetrator of the scheme (Phillip Suetter, of California) was arrested.
President Roosevelt directed the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
to investigate Beckman to determine his role in the financial scheme. Most of Beckman's collection was sold to pay the notes.
Because of Beckman's troubles, Bishop Henry Rohlman returned from the Davenport, Iowa, diocese to become
coadjutor archbishop The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence.
These include:
* Coad ...
in 1944. Beckman was allowed to retain his office, but was informed that Rohlman now led the archdiocese. Beckman retired in 1947, and left Dubuque for Cincinnati.
On December 7, 1941,
Japan bombed
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
. One of the casualties in that attack was
Father Aloysius Schmitt, a priest of the archdiocese, who was serving on board the
USS ''Oklahoma''. The boat capsized during the attack, leaving Schmitt and other men trapped below with only a small porthole for escape. Schmitt declined to be pulled from the ship, and instead helped other men, twelve in all, to escape, but perished himself. Schmitt was the first chaplain of any denomination to die in World War II. For his actions, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and a destroyer was named in his honor.
Postwar era
Soon after the war, Admiral Byrd led an expedition to the Antarctica. The
chaplain on his flagship,
Fr. William Menster, was a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Menster became the first priest to set foot on the continent, and later consecrated Antarctica in 1947. One of the effects of the post-war
baby boom was an increase in the number of students at some Catholic schools. In Dubuque, the Sacred Heart parish school had the largest student population of such schools in the midwest. On December 2, 1954, Archbishop Leo Binz succeeded Archbishop Rohlman as Archbishop of Dubuque and served in that capacity until December 16, 1961, when he became
Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Second Vatican Council and the aftermath
James Byrne was named the next archbishop of Dubuque on March 7, 1962, and was formally installed at St. Raphael's on May 8, 1962. He 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 ...
. Archbishop Byrne implemented the changes brought about by the council in the Archdiocese of Dubuque and quickly established the Priests Senate, a clergy advisory board, as well as another advisory board dealing with assignment of priests. These were among the first such boards founded in the United States. Archbishop Byrne retired from office on August 23, 1983, and remained in Dubuque until his death August 2, 1996.
Late 20th-early 21st centuries
On February 23, 1984,
Daniel William Kucera, OSB, was installed as the tenth bishop and eighth archbishop of Dubuque. Archbishop Kucera had earned a doctorate in education. At 36, he had become the youngest president of St. Procopius College (now known as
Benedictine University
Benedictine University is a private Roman Catholic university in Lisle, Illinois. It was founded in 1887 as St. Procopius College by the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey in the Pilsen community on the West Side of Chicago. The insti ...
). His background in education led Vatican officials, including the
pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
, to seek his advice.
During Kucera's tenure as archbishop, he remodeled St. Raphael's Cathedral, revised and published the guidelines for the sacrament of
Confirmation, reduced the number of deaneries from 16 to 14, reorganized the structure of the archdiocese and created an archbishop's cabinet to coordinate administration of the archdiocese.
In 1987, Kucera also launched a plan that divided the archdiocese into three regions with a resident bishop in each. The
Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
Region was served by retired Archbishop James Byrne and Archbishop Kucera; the
Cedar Rapids Region by Bishop Francis Dunn, and
Waterloo Region by Fr. William Franklin who was consecrated as a bishop in April 1987. However, Bishop Kucera eventually dropped the plan after the death of Bishop Dunn in 1989 and Bishop Franklin's nomination as the head of the
Diocese of Davenport
The Diocese of Davenport ( la, Diœcesis Davenportensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Roman Catholicism in the United States, Catholic Church for the southeastern quarter of the United States, U.S. state of Iowa ...
.
In 1986 the archdiocese celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding; Archbishop Kucera received an honorary degree from the
University of Dubuque
The University of Dubuque (UD) is a private Presbyterian university in Dubuque, Iowa. About 2,200 students attend the university.
History
The University of Dubuque has had a long history in Dubuque since its founding in 1852.
Early years
Th ...
. On October 16, 1995, Archbishop Kucera retired, moved to Aurora, Colorado, and then subsequently returned to live in Dubuque.
Bishops
Bishops of Dubuque
#
Mathias Loras
Mathias Loras (August 30, 1792 – February 19, 1858) was an immigrant French priest to the United States and the first bishop of the Dubuque Diocese in what would become the state of Iowa.
Early life and ministry
Pierre-Jean-Mathias Loras was ...
(1837–1858)
#
Clement Smyth
Timothy Clement Smyth (February 24, 1810 – September 22, 1865) was an Irish born 19th century bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Dubuque following the death of Mathias Loras.
B ...
, OCSO (1858–1865)
#
John Hennessey (1866–1893), elevated to
Archbishop
Archbishops of Dubuque
# John Hennessey (1893–1900)
#
John Keane (1900–1911)
#
James Keane (1911–1929)
#
Francis Beckman
Francis Joseph Beckman (October 25, 1875 – October 17, 1948) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska (1924–1930) and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa ( ...
(1930–1946)
#
Henry Rohlman
Henry Patrick Rohlman (March 17, 1876 – September 13, 1957) was a German-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Davenport in Iowa from 1927 to 1944 and as coadjutor archbishop and archbishop of the Archd ...
(1946–1954; Coadjutor 1944–1946)
#
Leo Binz (1954–1961), appointed
Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
#
James Byrne (1962–1983)
#
Daniel Kucera, OSB (1983–1995)
#
Jerome Hanus
Jerome George Hanus, O.S.B. (born May 26, 1940) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, presiding as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1995 until 2013.
A member of the Order of Saint Benedict, Hanus served as ...
, OSB (1995–2013; Coadjutor 1944–1995)
#
Michael Owen Jackels
Michael Owen Jackels (born April 13, 1954) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as the archbishop of Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa since 2013. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Wichita ...
(2013–present)
Auxiliary bishops
*
Edward Aloysius Fitzgerald
Edward Aloysius Fitzgerald (February 13, 1893 – March 30, 1972) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dubuque from 1946 to 1949, and as the fourth Bishop of Winona from 1949 t ...
(1946–1949), appointed
Bishop of Winona
*
Loras Thomas Lane
Loras Thomas Lane (October 19, 1910 – July 22, 1968), was an American prelate of the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque, Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1951 t ...
(1951–1956), appointed
Bishop of Rockford
*
George Biskup
George Biskup (August 23, 1911 – October 17, 1979) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Des Moines, Iowa (1965–1967) and Archbishop of Indianapolis (1970–1979).
Biography Early life and ministry
Georg ...
(1957–1965), appointed
Bishop of Des Moines and later Coadjutor Archbishop and
Archbishop of Indianapolis
*
Loras Joseph Watters
Loras Joseph Watters (October 14, 1915 – March 30, 2009) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dubuque from 1965 to 1969, and as the fifth Bishop of Winona from 1969 to 1986.
Bi ...
(1965–1969), appointed
Bishop of Winona
*
Francis John Dunn (1969–1989)
*
William Edwin Franklin
William Edwin Franklin (born May 3, 1930) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, He served as an auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1987 to 1993, and as bishop of the Diocese of Davenport, also in Iowa, from 199 ...
(1987–1993), appointed
Bishop of Davenport
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
*
Joseph Crétin
Joseph Crétin (19 December 1799 – 22 February 1857) was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Cretin Avenue in St. Paul, Cretin-Derham Hall High School, and Cretin Hall at the University of St. Thomas are named for him. ...
, appointed
Bishop of Saint Paul in 1850
*
Jean-Antoine-Marie Pelamourgues, appointed
Bishop of Saint Paul in 1858; did not take effect
*
Henry Cosgrove (priest here, 1857–1881), appointed
Bishop of Davenport in 1884
*
Thomas Mathias Lenihan, appointed
Bishop of Cheyenne in 1896
*
Mathias Clement Lenihan, appointed
Bishop of Great Falls in 1904
*
John Patrick Carroll, appointed
Bishop of Helena in 1904 (he was born in Dubuque, but was a priest of Cleveland before he became a bishop)
*
Daniel Mary Gorman
Daniel Mary Gorman (April 12, 1861 – June 9, 1927) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Boise in Idaho from 1918 until his death in 1927.
Biography
Early life
Daniel Gorman was born ...
, appointed
Bishop of Boise in 1918
*
Thomas William Drumm
Thomas William Drumm (July 12, 1871 – October 24, 1933) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Des Moines from 1919 until his death in 1933.
Biography
Thomas Drumm was born in Fore, County Westmeath, t ...
, appointed
Bishop of Des Moines in 1919
*
Edward Howard, appointed
Auxiliary Bishop of Davenport in 1923 and later
Archbishop of Oregon City
*
Louis Benedict Kucera
Louis Benedict Kucera (August 24, 1888 – May 9, 1957) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska from 1930 until his death.
Biography
Early life
Louis Kucera was born i ...
, appointed
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 ...
in 1930
*
Joseph Clement Willging, appointed
Bishop of Pueblo in 1941
*
James Vincent Casey
James Vincent Casey (September 22, 1914 – March 14, 1986) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska (1957–1967) and Archbishop of Denver, Colorado (1967–1986).
Biography
Early life and ...
, appointed
Auxiliary Bishop of Lincoln in 1957
*
Raymond Philip Etteldorf
Raymond Philip Etteldorf (August 18, 1911 – March 15, 1986) was an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Etteldorf was born in the Winneshiek County, Iowa community of Ossian. His grandfather Philipp Etteldorf (1827-1916) was a German i ...
, appointed
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 o ...
to New Zealand in 1968 and later an official of the (Vatican) Secretariat of State
*
Justin Albert Driscoll
Justin Albert Driscoll (September 30, 1920—November 19, 1984) was an American Roman Catholic clergyman. He served as President of Loras College (1967-1970) and Bishop of Fargo (1970-1984).
Biography
Early life
Justin Driscoll was born ...
, appointed
Bishop of Fargo in 1970
*
Thomas Zinkula
Thomas Robert Zinkula (born April 19, 1957) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Zinkula was a priest in the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa until he was named the ninth bishop of Davenport in Iowa in 2017.
...
, appointed
Bishop of Davenport in 2017
*
William Michael Joensen, appointed
Bishop of Des Moines in 2019
Recent events
Sexual abuse crisis
The Dubuque Archdiocese has not been immune to the
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
crisis affecting the church, but has had to deal with cases involving a couple dozen priests over a 60-year period.
Priest shortage
The archdiocese has also felt the effects of the
priest shortage In the years since World War II there has been a substantial reduction in the number of priests ''per capita'' in the Catholic Church, a phenomenon considered by many to constitute a "shortage" in the number of priests. From 1980 to 2012, the ratio ...
that has affected the church in recent times. In recent years many smaller, rural parishes have had to close and their congregations had been absorbed into other nearby parishes. Some rural parishes have been clustered together where one priest will serve two or more parishes. Some parishes have no resident priest.
Another effect is that some duties that a priest would have performed in the past are performed by either religious (
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
or deacon) individuals, or by the laity.
Education issues
In recent years, many questions have been raised about the future of Catholic schools. With parishes closing or combining services, schools were also combined together. In recent times, schools in a given geographical area have all been joined together into a school system.
In Dubuque, the Catholic schools are all part of the Holy Family system. There has been much controversy recently about how to best run the schools. The administrators of the system had recently made plans to reorganize the schools. This was due to factors such as a declining number of students attending Catholic schools. An especially controversial move that was proposed was to turn St. Anthony's school into a central school for certain grades. Parents of the parish felt that their concerns were being ignored. Eventually, the Archdiocesan Board of Education vetoed the plan, and told the school system to continue work on planning the system's future.
Controversy over ''The Passion of the Christ''
The
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...
film ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary ...
'' caused controversy in the archdiocese as well. That controversy has long since passed. One of the main issues raised by the film was an editorial cartoon on the movie that the ''
Dubuque Telegraph-Herald'' published in its editorial section. This cartoon featured a religious sister using corporal punishment. Some in the community have felt that this was a slight against the sisters and all their years of hard work. Others, mainly middle age to older adults, have said that this was representative of the sisters who taught them while they were in school.
Early parishes
Saint Francis Catholic Church
Saint Francis Catholic Church is located in
Balltown. As of 2006, the church did not have a resident pastor. The parish is part of a cluster of several other rural parishes in northern
Dubuque County, Iowa, that share a pastor and other facilities.
The parish traces its history back to 1858. A number of area residents had petitioned
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
Mathias Loras
Mathias Loras (August 30, 1792 – February 19, 1858) was an immigrant French priest to the United States and the first bishop of the Dubuque Diocese in what would become the state of Iowa.
Early life and ministry
Pierre-Jean-Mathias Loras was ...
to establish a Catholic parish in the Balltown area. Loras came to the area and offered Mass in a
log cabin near Balltown. Residents gathered the funds to build a church and school.
In 1891, local resident Andreas Rapp and his wife donated some land, which allowed for the construction of a brick building containing a school and a convent for the sisters, as well as the establishment of a cemetery. The school opened in September of that year with 45 children attending. Another local resident, Peter Cremer, donated land for a new church, and in 1892 the cornerstone for the second St. Francis Church building was laid.
The second St. Francis Church building would serve the parish until August 27, 1976, when
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...
struck the steeple, causing a fire which destroyed the church building. In the aftermath a new St. Francis Church was constructed, while the old convent building was torn down to make room for the new church.
Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church
Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church is located in
Peosta on Sundown Road, just to the north of
U.S. Highway 20. The church building is a newer structure, having been built in the late 1980s. As a result, it reflects some of the more recent trends in the church, including having the congregation arranged in a semicircle around the altar.
Currently, the pastor of St. John the Baptist Church is Father Richard Kuhn, who also covers Holy Family Catholic Church located about three miles away. The offices for both parishes are located at St. John's. The archdiocese has indicated that when Fr. Kuhn retires this arrangement will probably be changed due to the
priest shortage In the years since World War II there has been a substantial reduction in the number of priests ''per capita'' in the Catholic Church, a phenomenon considered by many to constitute a "shortage" in the number of priests. From 1980 to 2012, the ratio ...
, and St. John's would be clustered with several other nearby parishes. The parish has recently grown to the point where it is considering expanding or replacing the current church building.
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church
![SsPeterPaulIADec03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/SsPeterPaulIADec03.JPG)
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church is the parish for the Dubuque County town of
Sherrill. It is part of a cluster of rural parishes that share a pastor and other facilities.
History
![Geschenk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Geschenk.jpg)
The parish was founded in 1852 as St. William's. Prior to this, residents living in the Sherrill area needed to travel to Dubuque about 15 miles away to attend Mass, a considerable distance at the time. In response to the need for a local church to accommodate the heavy German Catholic immigration to the rural districts surrounding Sherrill, Dubuque
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
Mathias Loras
Mathias Loras (August 30, 1792 – February 19, 1858) was an immigrant French priest to the United States and the first bishop of the Dubuque Diocese in what would become the state of Iowa.
Early life and ministry
Pierre-Jean-Mathias Loras was ...
established the parish.
By the 1860s the name of Saints Peter and Paul had been adopted, and in 1889 the original wooden church was replaced by a large, brick and stone
Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
structure, which remains in use today. During the 1970s, the church's original carved wood
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
s were removed and its 19th-century wood trim was painted over. Recently parish members completed a renovation of the building that restored the wood trim and added decorative details suggestive of its past. Inscriptions on the church's
stained glass windows and on the older
headstones in its adjoining
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
are in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, reflecting the culture of the parish's founding members.
For well over 100 years the parish school was operated by the
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) is a Roman Catholic religious congregation for women whose motherhouse, St. Rose of Viterbo Convent, is in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of La Crosse. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetua ...
(FSPA) of
La Crosse,
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 ...
, and many girls of the parish who felt a calling to religious life joined that order. The school is still operated on the premises of the parish by the
Archdiocese 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 count ...
, as a consolidation of the original school and the Catholic school which once served the nearby community of
Balltown,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
.
Other
Other early parishes in the diocese include
Saint Mary's,
Sacred Heart,
Holy Ghost
For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third person of the Trinity, a Triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each entity itself being God.Gru ...
, and Saint Anthony's.
Schools
;High schools
Seminaries
*
St. Pius X Seminary
*
Divine Word Seminary
Colleges and universities
*
Loras College
Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree ...
,
Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
*
Clarke University,
Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
*
Mount Mercy University
Mount Mercy University is a private Catholic liberal arts university in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1928.
Students take a core of liberal arts courses as a foundation for areas of study including English, fine arts, ...
,
Cedar Rapids
*
Divine Word College,
Epworth
Suffragan sees
![Ecclesiastical Province of Dubuque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Ecclesiastical_Province_of_Dubuque.PNG)
*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport
The Diocese of Davenport ( la, Diœcesis Davenportensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Roman Catholicism in the United States, Catholic Church for the southeastern quarter of the United States, U.S. state of Iowa ...
*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines
The Diocese of Des Moines ( la, Diœcesis Desmoinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the southwestern quarter of the U.S. state of Iowa. It is a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province of ...
*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City ( la, Diœcesis Siopolitanensis) is the Roman Catholic diocese for the northwestern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The cathedral ...
References
Sources
* Hoffman, Rev, Mathias M., ''Centennial History of the Archdiocese of Dubuque'', Columbia College Press, Dubuque, Iowa, 1938.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Dubuque
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
Religious organizations established in 1837
Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
1837 establishments in Wisconsin Territory
Religion in Dubuque, Iowa