The Diocese of Rapid City ( la, Dioecesis Rapidopolitana) 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 Jo ...

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 associ ...

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 western

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

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., ...

. It is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

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 sev ...

of 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 Saint Paul and Minneapolis 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 ...

. The

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principal ...

is found within the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 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, mak ...

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

. Peter Michael Muhich was installed as bishop of this see on July 9, 2020. The diocese encompasses all South Dakota counties west of the Missouri River: Corson, Dewey, Stanley, Lyman, Gregory, Tripp, Todd, Bennett, Oglala Lakota, Fall River, Custer, Pennington, Lawrence, Meade, Butte, Harding, Perkins, Ziebach, Haakon, Jackson, Jones, and Mellette.

History

On August 6, 1902,

Saint Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

established the diocese as the Diocese of Lead. Its territory was taken from the Diocese of Sioux Falls. The name of the diocese was changed by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...

on August 1, 1930, when the see city was transferred to Rapid City.

Reports of sex abuse

On March 15, 2019, the Diocese of Rapid City published a list of 21 Catholic clergy who were credibly accused of committing acts of sex abuse while serving in schools, churches, hospitals and on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations from 1951 to 2018. The list was accompanied by a letter written by then-Rapid City Bishop Robert D. Gruss, which stated that "It is important to acknowledge the horrid truth of past abuse in the church so that we can repent of these actions and to recommit ourselves to ensuring that no one is hurt moving forward." On August 7, 2020, the Rapid City Diocese had received an allegation that recent vicar Michel Mulloy sexually abused a minor in the 1980s. This led to Mulloy's resignation before he was consecrated from his recent appointment as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota. Mulloy was reported to be no longer active in the Diocese of Rapid City. John Praveen, a priest and native of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, India, had joined the Diocese of Rapid City for a 10-year assignment in December 2017. The Diocese of Rapid City sponsored Praveen's visa. Upon arriving, Praveen first worked in Eagle Butte on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe reservation. He was transferred to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in June 2018. He worked at the cathedral until he was arrested and charged on October 2, 2018, on sex abuse charges. Following the arrest of Praveen, Bishop Robert Gruss stripped Praveen of both his clerical attire and priestly duties; he ordered him to live a life of prayer and penance under the supervision of the Rapid City bishop. On November 12, 2020, Pope Francis

laicized In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the loss of clerical state (commonly referred to as laicization, dismissal, defrocking, and degradation) is the removal of a bishop, priest, or deacon from the status of being a member of the clergy. The ...

Praveen. On November 25, 2020, the Church reported that federal sex abuse and child pornography charges were pending against Fr. Marcin Garbacz. He was already serving a 7.75-year prison sentence for stealing from the Diocese of Rapid City.

Bishops

Ordinaries

The bishops of the diocese and their terms of service: ;''Bishops of Lead'' # John Stariha (1902–1909) # Joseph Francis Busch (1910–1915), appointed Bishop of Saint Cloud # John Jeremiah Lawler (1915–1930 ''see below'') ;''Bishops of Rapid City'' # John Jeremiah Lawler (''see above'' 1930–1948) #

William Tibertus McCarty William Tibertus McCarty, C.Ss.R. (August 11, 1889 – September 14, 1972) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Redemptorist, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Rapid City in South Dakota from 1948 to 1969. He previous ...

, C.Ss.R. (1948–1969) # Harold Joseph Dimmerling (1969–1987) # Charles Joseph Chaput,

O.F.M. Cap. The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM ...

(1988–1997), appointed Archbishop of Denver and later Archbishop of Philadelphia # Blase Joseph Cupich (1998–2010), appointed Bishop of Spokane and later

Archbishop of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 an ...

(elevated to

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

in 2016) #

Robert Dwayne Gruss Robert Dwayne Gruss (born June 25, 1955) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw in Michigan since 2019. Gruss previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Rapid ...

(2011–2019), appointed Bishop of Saginaw # Peter Michael Muhich (2020–present)

Coadjutor bishop

Leo Ferdinand Dworschak Leo Ferdinand Dworschak (April 6, 1900 – November 5, 1976) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fargo in North Dakota from 1960 to 1970. He previously served as auxiliary bishop ...

(1946-1947), did not succeed to this see; appointed auxiliary bishop of Fargo in 1947

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops

* Lawrence Welsh, appointed Bishop of Spokane in 1978 * Steven Biegler, appointed Bishop of Cheyenne in 2017

Schools

* Red Cloud Indian School (Maȟpíya Lúta Owáyawa),

Pine Ridge Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...

**Red Cloud High School (Maȟpíya Lúta Waŋkáwapȟaya Owáyawa), Pine Ridge (9-12) **Red Cloud Elementary and Middle School (Maȟpíya Lúta Hukhúčiyela Owáyawa), Pine Ridge (K-8) **Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary (Wíŋyaŋ Wakȟáŋ Owáyawa),

Porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethiz ...

(K-8) *Rapid City Catholic School System,

** St. Thomas More High School (9-12) **St. Thomas More Middle School (6-8) **St. Elizabeth Seton Elementary (K-5) **St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Child Development (3K-PK) * St. Francis Mission,

Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as t ...

**Sapa Un Catholic Academy, St. Francis (K-8)

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rapid City Official Site
{{authority control

Christian organizations established in 1902 Diocese of Rapid City

1902 establishments in South Dakota