The Diocese of Oakland ( la, Diœcesis Quercopolitana) 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 associa ...

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 Northern California. The diocese comprises

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

and Contra Costa Counties in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. The Cathedral of Christ the Light serves as the bishop's seat, replacing the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales which was demolished after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. Once a part of the

Archdiocese of San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco (Latin: ''Archdiœcesis Sancti Francisci''; Spanish: ''Archidiócesis de San Francisco'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the Unite ...

, the Diocese of Oakland remains a 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 seve ...

governed by the metropolitan

Archbishop of San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco ( Latin: ''Archdiœcesis Sancti Francisci''; Spanish: ''Archidiócesis de San Francisco'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the ...

. Its fellow suffragans include the dioceses of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, San Jose,

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

and Stockton. The patron saints of the Diocese of Oakland are Mary, Queen of the World and

Saint Francis de Sales Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...

History

The first known Mass celebrated in the area that would become the Diocese of Oakland was on March 27, 1772, by Father

Juan Crespí Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí (1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain ...

on the shores of

Lake Merritt Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon in the center of Oakland, California, just east of Downtown. It is surrounded by parkland and city neighborhoods. It is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designate ...

. Twenty five years later,

Mission San José Mission San José may refer to: *Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California * Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood * Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California *Mission San José ...

was established in what is now Fremont, becoming the first parish in the area. Within time, Mission San José became the most prosperous of the

California Missions The Spanish missions in California ( es, Misiones españolas en California) comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. Founded by Catholic priests of ...

. After secularization by the Mexican government the mission remained an integral part of the area with many of the early pioneer families sharing close ties with the mission. In the 1820s the Peralta family, landowners of much of what would become Alameda County, built a chapel on the grounds of Rancho San Antonio in present-day Oakland. The chapel was served by priests from the mission and was called Saint Anthony's chapel. The area came under episcopal control in 1840 with the establishment of the Diocese of the Two Californians. After the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

in 1850, the diocese was split in two with the Diocese of Monterey in California administering the areas under American control. In 1853

Joseph Sadoc Alemany Joseph Sadoc Alemany y Conill, O.P. (Spanish: José Sadoc Alemany y Conill; July 3, 1814 – April 14, 1888) was a Spanish Catholic clergyman, who served most of his career in California. He served as the first Bishop of Monterey (1850–53) a ...

, the Bishop of Monterey, moved his seat to San Francisco and became the first

. At that time Mission San José was the only parish in the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...

. In 1858, Archbishop

Alemany Alemany is a Catalan surname with the meaning of German. Notable people with the surname include: * Arnau Alemany (1948–2000), Spanish painter * Ellen Alemany (born 1955), American banker * Iván Alemany (born 1967), Spanish cyclist *Jacqueline A ...

sent Father James Croke to establish a parish in Oakland. Croke founded St. Mary, Immaculate Conception at Eighth and Jefferson Streets. By the turn of the twentieth century many parishes were formed in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, Fremont, Livermore, Hayward, Oakland, and

San Leandro San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...

to reflect the growing populations in the East Bay. After World War II rapid growth in the San Francisco region led

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 Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

to establish the Diocese of Oakland in 1962 from the eastern portion of the San Francisco Archdiocese. Saint Frances de Sales was established as the diocesan

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 metropo ...

and Floyd Begin of Cleveland, Ohio, was installed as Oakland's first bishop. In the following decades the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales developed a national reputation for lively liturgies and for social ministries. The cathedral parish was also known for its excellence in music, developing what was called the "Oakland Cathedral Sound". Unfortunately, the cathedral church suffered damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The diocese deemed the repairs too costly (estimates were at $8 million for both the Cathedral and Sacred Heart Church) and instead opted to demolish the churches. In May 2005, ground was broken for the new $131 million Cathedral of Christ the Light, located on the shores of

in Oakland. The new cathedral opened in 2008 with a new parish formed out of the then cathedral parish of Saint Mary-Saint Francis de Sales. In May 2020, it was revealed that the Diocese of Oakland was undergoing a sex abuse lawsuit. In July 2020, the Rev. Varghese "George" Alengadan, who had been placed on administrative leave five months earlier, was charged with committing sexual battery against a woman in 2019.

Present

Today, the Diocese of Oakland serves an estimated 560,000 Catholics in the East Bay region. There are currently 84 parishes located in the diocese and 16 pastoral centers. As the Bay Area is known for a diverse population, the diocese celebrates Mass in 15 different languages including Spanish, American Sign Language, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Latin (

Mass of Paul VI The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 19 ...

and

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...

). The diocesan Department of Catholic Schools administers over forty-seven elementary/middle schools and nine high schools serving over 19,000 students. Some of the more notable schools include De La Salle High School, known nationally as a football powerhouse, St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda, known as having state championship basketball teams,

Bishop O'Dowd High School Bishop O'Dowd High School is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school in Oakland, California, administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and named for the late auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Jam ...

, and Salesian College Preparatory. In addition to the elementary and high schools, seven universities and seminaries are located within the Diocese of Oakland, including: * Graduate Theological Union Affiliates :* Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology :*

Franciscan School of Theology The Franciscan School of Theology (FST) is a Roman Catholic graduate theological school at the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside, California. It is owned and operated by the Province of Saint Barbara of the Order of Friars Minor. FST ...

:* Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley :*The School of Applied Theology * St. Mary's College of California *

Holy Names University Holy Names University is a private Roman Catholic university in Oakland, California. It was founded by and remains affiliated with the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. It was founded in 1868 and plans to close in 2023. History The ...

* Queen of the Holy Rosary College (Community College)

Bishops

Bishops of Oakland

The list of bishops of the diocese and their terms of service: # Floyd Lawrence Begin (1962–1977) #

John Stephen Cummins John Stephen Cummins (born March 3, 1928) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Oakland in California from 1977 to 2003 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento in California f ...

(1977–2003) #

Allen Henry Vigneron Allen Henry Vigneron (born October 21, 1948) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan and Ecclesiastical Superior of the Cayman Islands, serving since 2009. Vi ...

(2003–2009), appointed Archbishop of Detroit # Salvatore Cordileone (2009–2012), appointed

# Michael C. Barber, S.J. (2013–present)

Other priest of this diocese who became a bishop

Clarence Richard Silva Clarence Richard Silva (born August 6, 1949), known as Larry Silva, is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu since 2005. Silva is the first priest born in Hawaii to beco ...

, appointed Bishop of Honolulu in 2005

Churches

High schools

For boys

* De La Salle High School (1965) Concord

For girls

Carondelet High School Carondelet High School is an all-girls private Catholic high school in Concord, California, United States. Carondelet High School was founded in 1965 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph. The school enrolls about 800 students. It shares some resources w ...

(1965) Concord * Holy Names High School (1868) Oakland

Coeducational

(1951) Oakland *

Moreau Catholic High School Moreau Catholic High School is a college preparatory Roman Catholic secondary school sponsored by the Moreau Province of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. It is located in Hayward, California, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland und ...

(1965) Hayward * St. Joseph Notre Dame High School (1881) Alameda *

Saint Mary's College High School Saint Mary's College High School is a coeducational Catholic school located in Berkeley, California, United States. It came into being as part of Saint Mary's College of California, founded in 1863 by the Catholic Church, and put under the auspi ...

(1863, San Francisco) Berkeley * Salesian College Preparatory (1960) Richmond

Closed Schools

* St. Elizabeth High School (1912) Oakland

Grade schools

* St. Joseph, Alameda * St. Philip Neri, Alameda * Holy Rosary, Antioch * School of the Madeleine, Berkeley * Our Lady of Grace, Castro Valley * St. Agnes, Concord * St. Francis of Assisi, Concord * Queen of All Saints, Concord * St. Isidore, Danville * St. Raymond, Dublin * St. John the Baptist, El Cerrito * Holy Spirit, Fremont * St. Joseph, Fremont * Our Lady of Guadalupe, Fremont * Dominican Kindergarten, Fremont * All Saints, Hayward * St. Bede, Hayward * St. Clement, Hayward * St. Joachim, Hayward * St. Perpetua, Lafayette * St. Michael, Livermore *

St. Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. ...

, Martinez * St. Edward, Newark * St. Anthony, Oakland * St. Elizabeth, Oakland * St. Jarlath, Oakland * St. Lawrence O'Toole, Oakland * St. Leo, Oakland * St. Martin de Porres, Oakland * St. Theresa, Oakland * Corpus Christi, Piedmont * St. Peter Martyr, Pittsburg *

Christ the King Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where the Christ is described as seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one of ...

, Pleasant Hill * St. Cornelius, Richmond * St. David, Richmond * St. Patrick, Rodeo * Assumption, San Leandro * St. Felicitas, San Leandro * St. Leander, San Leandro * St. John, San Lorenzo * St. Paul, San Pablo * Our Lady of the Rosary, Union City * St. Mary, Walnut Creek

Publications

The Diocese of Oakland publishes ''The Catholic Voice'', its official newspaper, on a semi-monthly basis.

Sexual Abuse scandals

The diocese has suffered from

Catholic sex abuse cases There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, a ...

which were brought forward by parishioners against some of its priests. From 1994 through 2009, the diocese paid $60.5 million to its victims of sexual abuse, the largest payments being made in 2004 and 2005. In August 2005, it was confirmed that the Diocese already paid $56 million to settle lawsuits with 56 victims of clergy sex abuse, with $200,000 to more than $2 million At least 64 Roman Catholic clergy members accused of molesting children have served in 61 of the 86 parishes in the Oakland diocese, and in all seven of the diocese's male-run high schools. The Diocese has only acknowledged 12 of the molesters, according to a 2008 MediaNews analysis of court and church records. Nine diocesan clergy have been accused of molesting four or more children each, according to Dan McNevin of

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, established in 1989, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization support group of survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their supporters in the United States. Barbara Blaine, a survivor o ...

(SNAP), and court records. Monsignor Vincent Breen was accused of abusing at least fifteen girls, and Monsignor George Francis nine girls. The Reverend James Clark was accused of abusing four children, the Reverend Arthur Ribeiro four, the Reverend Robert Freitas five, the Reverend Gary Tollner six, the Reverend Robert Ponciroli eight, the Reverend Donald Broderson eleven, and the Reverend Stephen Kiesle fifteen. One of the victims, Linda Chapin, was awarded $3 million in a 2004 settlement reached with the diocese, related to her accusation that George Francis raped her "ritualistically and sadistically" several times beginning when she was six years old. Francis died in 1998. Upon winning her settlement, Chapin called upon the diocese to "name all the priests that there are credible allegations against." In 2005, Tim Stier, priest at the Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Fremont, California, stepped down from his 25-year service with the Oakland diocese in protest at its failure to address sexuality problems in priests. Stier described the diocese as hiding or ignoring the child sex abuse cases, and not holding its leaders accountable. He said, "It's not as if I'm a perfect person and I don't have weaknesses and sin. But there is a level of dishonesty and arrogance in this that just tells me we need systemic, radical change." Stier has since endorsed such innovations as female priests, married priests, openly gay priests and married gay priests. In 2010, Stephen Kiesle was accused of abusing an 11-year-old girl, Teresa Rosson, from 1972, the year he was ordained, until 2001, two decades after he had been removed from the priesthood. Kiesle married Rosson's mother in 1982. In 1978, Kiesle had pleaded

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...

to a misdemeanor charge of lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two boys in a church rectory and was removed from his duties as a priest. From 1985 to 1988, Kiesle volunteered as a youth minister in a parish in

Pinole Pinole, also called pinol or pinolillo, is roasted ground maize, which is then mixed with a combination of cocoa, agave, cinnamon, chia seeds, vanilla, or other spices. The resulting powder is then used as a nutrient-dense ingredient to make d ...

, but was removed after a worker in the Diocese's Office of Youth Ministry complained. Kiesle was formally defrocked in 1987. Eight of Kiesle's victims settled with the Diocese in 2005 for between $1 million and $1.5 million each, part of a total of $56 million in settlements paid out by the Diocese that year to those who had been abused, and more than a quarter of a million in therapy for victims. Diocese-owned insurance policies covered some 57% of these payments. Kiesle was sentenced to six years in prison; some of the charges were dropped because they were beyond the legal statute of limitations. He was returned to prison for four months for possessing pornography in violation of his parole. In October 2008, Bishop

opened a Healing Garden at the Cathedral of Christ the Light, dedicated to victims of clergy sexual abuse. From 1994 through 2009, the diocese paid $60.5 million to its victims of sexual abuse. In April 2012, the

Catholic News Agency The Catholic News Agency (CNA) is a private institution of EWTN that provides news related to the Catholic Church to the global anglophone audience. Founded in 2004 as the English section of the worldwide ACI Group, it is headquartered in Denve ...

(CNA), in an online news story article with EWTN News, stated that the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

, in an opinion written by California's Chief Justice,

Tani Cantil-Sakauye Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye ( née Cantil; born October 19, 1959) is an American lawyer and jurist who was the 28th Chief Justice of California and is the president/ CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Nominated by Governor Arnold Sch ...

, ruled that a one-year extension that had run out on the expired statute of limitations prevented six brothers of the Quarry family from suing the archdiocese over early 1970s molestation cases, in which the defendant was removed from the priesthood (1990s) and is deceased (2010), given that the claim is now too stale to be adequately defended against because of degradation in evidence. In December 2020, the Diocese of Oakland paid $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a former seminarian who claimed he was raped by a Livermore priest back in 2017.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland Official SiteThe Cathedral of Christ the Light Official Website
*Burns, Jeffrey M. and Batiza, Mary C. ''We Are The Church: The History Of The Diocese Of Oakland'' - 2001, Published by the Diocese of Oakland. *Official 2009 Catholic Directory of the Diocese of Oakland, Published by the Catholic Voice. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakland Oakland Christian organizations established in 1962 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of San Francisco Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States 1962 establishments in California