Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport

The Diocese of Bridgeport is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church located in the southwestern part of the state of Connecticut, and its boundaries are the same as that of Fairfield County, Connecticut. There are 82 parishes in the diocese. Its cathedral is St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport. The Diocese of Bridgeport is a suffragan diocese within the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Hartford.

, the diocese is led by Bishop Frank Joseph Caggiano. He succeeds William E. Lori, appointed March 19, 2001, who served until 2012, when he was installed as Archbishop of Baltimore. The diocese was led by Msgr. Jerald A. Doyle as Diocesan Administrator until Caggiano, named by Pope Francis on July 31, 2013, was installed as bishop on September 19, 2013.

Description

The diocese is one of 195 Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States. It is one of four dioceses in the Ecclesiastical Province of Hartford—the others are the Archdiocese of Hartford, the Diocese of Norwich and the Diocese of Providence.

The largest church in the diocese is St. Mary's Church on Elm Street in Stamford, built in 1928. Sacred Heart Parish in Georgetown was the home parish for writers Flannery O'Connor and Robert Fitzgerald from 1949 to 1952 when O'Connor was living in Ridgefield as a boarder with the Fitzgeralds. ("The working day as we set it up that fall began with early mass in Georgetown, four miles away," Fitzgerald wrote.)

Demographics

The diocese has more than 410,304 registered Catholics in Fairfield County, 44 percent of the total population.
"Who We Are" page on Diocese Web site, accessed July 18, 2006

Other statistics:
"At a Glance" Web page of the official Diocese of Bridgeport Web site
*Baptisms: 4,343
* First Communion, First Communions: 4,907
*Marriages: 981
*Funerals: 3,334

Leadership: These figures from the diocese are from 2011:
*Diocesan priests: 240
*Permanent deacons: 103
*Religious sisters: 330
*Seminarians for priesthood: 35
*Priests ordained in 2011: 1

Languages

While all the diocesan parishes offer mass in English, other languages are offered depending on the needs of a particular congregation. These include Brazilian, Creole, French, Igbo/Nigerian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Several parishes also offer the Traditional Latin mass, particularly Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Bridgeport, which offers mass in no other language.

History

The Catholic Chruch in Fairfield County, in Connecticut and in America faced ongoing challenges through much of its history as diverse immigrant groups struggled to acclimate themselves to American culture. Another early challenge came from deep suspicions among many (although not all) Protestants.

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

In the seventeenth and much of the eighteenth century, Connecticut Puritan divines were vociferously anti-Catholic in their writings and preaching. Suspicion of the Church as a foreign political power and of Catholics as having loyalty to that power remained widespread into the 20th century.

"In the summer of 1781, French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau and his army marched through Connecticut, encamping in the Ridgebury section of Ridgefield, where the first Catholic mass n Fairfield Countywas offered. His troops were mostly Catholic and were ministered to by Reverend Fathers Robin, Gluson, Lacy, and Saint Pierre."

Between 1780 to 1781, in Lebanon, Connecticut, the first Catholic "Mass was first celebrated, continuously and for a long period, within the limits of the State of Connecticut." On June 26, 1881, St. Peter's Parish in Hartford celebrated the centenary of that first mass.

Connecticut passed an act of toleration in 1784, allowing any Protestant to avoid taxes supporting the local Congregational Church, providing that they could prove membership and regular attendance at another church. In 1791 the same right was extended to all Christians, including Catholics. The act had little practical effect for Catholics, however, since there was no Catholic parish in the state.

Nineteenth century

The first Catholic church in Connecticut was established in 1829 in Hartford. In 1830, Reverend James Fitton celebrated mass in Bridgeport in the home of James McCullough on Middle Street. From 1832 to 1837, Reverend James McDermot visited Hartford from New Haven. He said mass at the Farrell residence, also on Middle Street. By 1835 the rector of the New Haven church estimated there were 720 Catholics in Fairfield County, with Bridgeport the home of the biggest community—about 100 people.DiGiovanni, p. xxviii McDermot was followed by Reverend James Smyth, also from New Haven.

On July 24, 1842, St. James the Apostle Church (Irish) was dedicated by Bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick at the corner of Washington Avenue and Arch Street in Bridgeport. The town then had a population of about 250 Catholics. The church rector was given responsibility for small Catholic communities in Derby and Norwalk. Catholics in Stamford, Greenwich and other towns were ministered to by the Bridgeport rector and by Jesuit priests based at Fordham College in New York City. In 1844, Reverend Michael Lynch, a former pastor in Waltham, Massachusetts, became the first resident priest in Bridgeport. His responsibilities included missions in Norwalk, Stamford, Danbury, Wolcottville, and Norfolk.

Reverend Thomas Synnott, pastor of St. James Parish, established St. Mary's Parish (Irish) in East Bridgeport in 1854. He then opened St. Augustine (Irish) Parish in Bridgeport in 1869. Sacred Heart Parish (Irish) was organized in 1883; until the church was ready for services, mass was held at the Opera House. In 1890, Reverend James Nihil purchased the Eli Thompson estate; the Board of Education allowed the use of the Grand Street School until St. Patrick's Church was ready for services. St. Michael's "Chapel of Ease" (funded and administered by Sacred Heart Parish) was constructed in the West Side of Bridgeport in 1895; the Sisters of Mercy operated a school in the rear portion of the building. A number of national parishes were also established:

* St. Joseph's (German)
* St. Anthony of Padua (French)
* St. Stephen's (Hungarian
* St. John Nepomucene (Slovak) in 1891, the first Slovak church in New England. It merged with Holy Name of Jesus Slovak Parish after celebrating its 100th anniversary in 1991.

On November 28, 1843, the Diocese of Hartford was split off from the Diocese of Boston (which had covered all of New England). The new diocese covered all of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Diocese of Providence, covering all of Rhode Island, was split from the Diocese of Hartford in 1872..

Twentieth century

The Diocese of Bridgeport was established August 6, 1953, from the Diocese of Hartford.

Reports of sex abuse

In 1993, 23 lawsuits were filed against the Diocese of Bridgeport, alleging sexual abuse by priests. The 23 claims were settled in 2001. Five priests were evicted from the ministry. Two diocesan priests, Kieran Ahearn and John Castaldo, were convicted on sex abuse charges respectively in 1993 and 2001. However, many other accused priests died without facing trial. In November 2014, the diocese revealed a list of accused clergy. In 2016, Bishop Caggiano removed accused priest John Stronkowski from active ministry in the diocese. In October 2018, the diocese released a report of financial settlements with abuse victims. The majority of the cost of settlements (approximately 92%) was provided through the sale of diocesan property, insurance recoveries and other co-defendants. The diocese paid approximately $52.5 million to settle 156 abuse cases dating back to 1953. In March 2019, ten additional names were later added to the original 2014 list.

In October 2019, former Connecticut Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg released the results of his investigation, commissioned by Bridgeport Bishop Frank Caggiano, into the diocese's handling of accusations of sexual abuse by its priests. Holzberg found that all three of Bridgeport's bishops over forty years had consistently failed to fulfill their moral and legal responsibilities. Holzberg found that former Bishop Edward Egan, who served as bishop of Bridgeport between 1988 and 2000, took a "dismissive, uncaring, and at times threatening attitude toward survivors"; he characterized Egan's behavior as "profoundly unsympathetic, inadequate, and inflammatory". Holzberg's report, which stemmed from a year-long investigation, accused 71 priests of sexually abusing 300 children since 1953. However, it also praised the reforms which were made by Egan's successors William Lori and Frank Caggiano to combat sex abuse and compared their tenure to that of their predecessors as "a tale of two cities."

On January 3, 2020, accused Danbury priest Jaime Marin-Cordona was arrested and released on bond four weeks later after agreeing to wear a tracking device. He was charged with three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury to child and three counts of illegal sexual contact. He has pled not guilty to all nine charges. In March 2020, it was announced that the pre-trial hearing for Marin-Cardona would begin March 27, 2020 and conclude April 21, 2020. Marin-Cardona was charged with three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury to child and three counts of illegal sexual contact.

Bishops

Bishops of Bridgeport

# Lawrence Shehan (1953–1961), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Baltimore and subsequently succeeded to that see, created cardinal in 1965
# Walter William Curtis (1961–1988)
# Edward Egan (1988–2000), appointed Archbishop of New York and subsequently created cardinal in 2001
# William E. Lori (2001–2012), appointed Archbishop of Baltimore
# Frank J. Caggiano (2013–Present)

Education

Primary and secondary level

The diocese sponsors 32 regional elementary schools (with 9,974 students) including All Saints Catholic School in Norwalk and five diocesan high schools (with 2627 students). Two other Catholic high schools are directed by religious communities. Altogether, these schools educate nearly 14,000 youth (2,500 of whom are minorities and 1,700 are non-Catholics).

High schools

* Convent of the Sacred Heart*, Greenwich
* Fairfield College Preparatory School*, Fairfield
* Immaculate High School, Danbury
* Kolbe Cathedral High School, Bridgeport
* Notre Dame Catholic High School, Fairfield
* St. Joseph High School, Trumbull
* Trinity Catholic High School, Stamford
: *Independently operated with blessing of diocese.

Higher education

These three Roman Catholic schools in the diocese have more than 11,000 students:
* Fairfield University
*Sacred Heart University
*St. Vincent's College in Bridgeport

Social services

For the elderly

The diocese also sponsors nursing homes in Danbury, Stamford, and Trumbull; and eight "Bishop Curtis Homes" for the elderly in Bethel, Danbury, Greenwich, Stamford, Fairfield, and Bridgeport.

Other

"Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, with 25 program offices throughout the county, provides the largest private network of social services in southwestern Connecticut," according to the diocese.

See also

* Catholic Church by country
* Catholic Church in the United States
* Ecclesiastical Province of Hartford
* Global organisation of the Catholic Church
* List of Roman Catholic archdioceses (by country and continent)
* List of Roman Catholic dioceses (alphabetical) (including archdioceses)
* List of Roman Catholic dioceses (structured view) (including archdioceses)
* List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States

References

External links

Diocesan website''Fairfield County Catholic''
, the official diocesan newspaper
St. John Fisher Seminary
the diocese seminary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese Of Bridgeport

Diocese of Bridgeport
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Christian organizations established in 1953
Bridgeport
Bridgeport