The Diocese of Winona–Rochester () is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Southern

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in the United States. It is a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The mother church of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester is the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona, with the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist located in Rochester.

Territory

The Diocese of Winona–Rochester includes the following 20 counties: Blue Earth, Cottonwood,

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

, Faribault, Fillmore,

Freeborn "Freeborn" is a term associated with political agitator John Lilburne (1614–1657), a member of the Levellers, a 17th-century English political party. As a word, "freeborn" means born free, rather than in slavery or bondage or vassalage. Lilbu ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

Mower A mower is a person or machine that cuts (mows) grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g. with reape ...

, Murray,

Nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

Olmsted Olmsted may refer to: People * Olmsted (name) Places * Olmsted Air Force Base, inactive since 1969 * Olmsted, Illinois * Olmsted County, Minnesota * Olmsted Falls, Ohio * Olmsted Point, a viewing area in Yosemite National Park * Olmsted To ...

, Pipestone,

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, Watonwan, and Winona. Within Minnesota, the diocese is bordered to the north by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of New Ulm.

History

1826 to 1889

Southern Minnesota area went through several Catholic jurisdictions before the Vatican erected the Diocese of Winona: * Diocese of Saint Louis (1826 to 1837) * Diocese of Dubuque (1837 to 1850) * Diocese of Saint Paul (1850 to 1875) The first Mass in the present-day diocese was celebrated in 1840 by

Lucien Galtier Lucien Galtier ( – February 21, 1866) was a French Catholic priest. He was the first Catholic priest to serve in Minnesota. He was born in southern France in the town of Saint-Affrique, department of Aveyron. The year of his birth is somewhat u ...

along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

in Wabasha. As large numbers of Catholic Irish, German, Czech and Polish immigrants started settling in the region, the diocese sent more missionary priests to minister to them. In

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

, the first parish, Saint Peter and Paul, was organized in 1854. The first parish in Winona, St. Thomas, was established in 1857. In 1863, the first Catholic church in Rochester, St. John the Evangelist, was opened. In 1877, Coadjutor Bishop

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in New York City, he came to prominence with film audiences for his supporting roles i ...

of Saint Paul purchased over of land in the Winona area. Ireland then recruited poor Catholic Irish and German farmers to buy the land and settle there, giving them favorable repayment terms. In 1882, the Sisters of Saint Francis built a new hospital in Rochester and asked Doctors

William James Mayo William James Mayo (June 29, 1861 – July 28, 1939) was a physician and surgeon in the United States and one of the seven founders of the Mayo Clinic. He and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo, both joined their father's private medical practice ...

and Charles Mayo to be the medical staff. This was the start of the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

1889 to 1928

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

erected the Diocese of Winona on November 26, 1889. He appointed Reverend Joseph Cotter from Saint Paul as the first bishop of Winona. When Cotter became bishop, the new diocese included 45 priests, eight churches, 15 parochial schools, and two hospitals. Approximately 38,000 Catholics resided in the diocese. Cotter died in 1909. By the time of his death, the diocese had a Catholic population of over 49,000 with 91 priests, 116 churches, and 29 parochial schools with 4,700 students. In 1910, Reverend Patrick Heffron of St. Paul was appointed bishop of Winona by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius 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 Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

. He opened Cotter High School in Winona in 1911. He also founded St. Mary's College, a men's college in Winona, in 1912; it is today St Mary's University of Minnesota. In 1915, Heffron was shot twice while celebrating a private mass by Reverend Laurence M. Lesches. Lesches had been angry at Heffron for denying him his own parish; Heffron had said he denied the posting due to Lesches' arrogant behavior and emotional instability. Heffron survived the shooting; Lesches was committed to a mental hospital for life. Heffron died in 1927.

1928 to 1987

Pastoral Center Diocese of Winona-Rochester

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

named Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kelly of Winona in 1928 as the next bishop of the diocese. After 21 years as bishop, Kelley retired in 1949.

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

then appointed Auxiliary Bishop Edward Fitzgerald of Dubuque to replace him. Fitzgerald became known as "the building bishop" for his oversight of the construction of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, a seminary, and several churches in the diocese. 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 and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

between 1962 and 1965, and subsequently implemented the council's reforms in the diocese, including introducing English into the

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

. After Fitzgerald retired in 1969,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul 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 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

that same year selected Auxiliary Bishop Loras Watters of Dubuque as the next bishop of Winona. He promulgated the document "The Church in the Diocese of Winona," which described the local church and the roles of the clergy, religious, and the

laity In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...

. He initiated the pastoral council, which provided a pastoral leadership role for the laity. He also established the tribunal, the Finance Office, and reorganized the diocese into

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a ...

. Watters retired in 1986.

1987 to 2010

To replace Watters,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1987 named Auxiliary Bishop John Vlazny from the

Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. The Vatican erected it as a diocese in 1843 and elevated it to an ar ...

. During his tenure, Vlazny increased the involvement of the

, decentralized the diocesan staff, and created the Offices of Youth and Family Life. He also started the tradition of the "Harvest Mass," an annual outdoor liturgy celebrated on a farm. In 1994, Vlazny asked Catholics in the diocese to consider ending

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

as a source of revenue for parishes and schools. Vlazny became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon in 1997. The next bishop of Winona was Auxiliary Bishop Bernard Harrington from the

Archdiocese of Detroit The Archdiocese of Detroit () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church covering the south-east portion of Michigan in the United States. The archdiocese consists counties of Lapeer County, Michigan, Lap ...

, appointed by John Paul II in 1997. In 2008, Harrington commented on the plans of Kathy Redig, a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

in the diocese, to undergo an unauthorized ordination. Harrington said that Redig would, in effect, be "self-excommunicating" herself from the Catholic Church by this action. That same year,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named Auxiliary Bishop John M. Quinn of the

as coadjutor bishop in Winona to assist Harrington.

2010 to present

When Harrington retired later in 2008, Quinn automatically succeeded him as bishop. In March 2018, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Winona as the Diocese of Diocese of Winona–Rochester. In December 2018, the Diocese of Winona–Rochester filed for

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

due to the financial burden caused by the 121 sex abuse lawsuits involving the diocese and 14 priests.Court document
uscourts.gov As part of its bankruptcy filing, the diocese agreed to not file objections to more plaintiffs being added to the lawsuits up to April 8, 2019. Quinn retired in 2022. As of 2023, the current bishop of Winona–Rochester is

Robert Barron Robert Emmet Barron (born November 19, 1959) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester since 2022. He is the founder of the Catholic ministerial organization Word on Fire, a ...

, formerly an auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles The Archdiocese of Los Angeles (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the southern coastal portion of the U.S. state of California. The archdiocese's cathedra is in Los Angeles, and the arc ...

. He was appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

in 2022. In November 2022, Barron announced that the diocese was moving its headquarters from Winona to Rochester and was building a new pastoral center there.

Sex abuse cases

1910StMarysHospitalRochesterMNcopyrightCarlAHolland

In 1984, court documents revealed that Reverend Thomas Adamson had been accused of sexual misconduct ten years earlier. In response, Bishop Watters had sent Adamson to a private psychiatric hospital in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

without contacting the police. When Adamson finished treatment, Archbishop John Roach of Saint Paul-Minneapolis allowed him in 1976 to transfer to the archdiocese. By 1984, the archdiocese was being sued by a local couple who claimed that Adamson had sexually abused their son, Gregory Riedle. Adamson confessed his crimes in 2014, but was never prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. The diocese in 2013 published a list of 14 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. In September 2018, the

Minnesota Court of Appeals The Minnesota Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It began operating on November 1, 1983. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over most appeals from the State court (United State ...

dismissed an appeal from the diocese to block lawsuits for past cases of sex abuse. In February 2021, the diocese reached a $21.5 million financial settlement with 145 victims of sexual abuse by diocesan clergy as a part of its 2018 bankruptcy filing. In 2022, police arrested Reverend Ubaldo Roque Huerta of Rushmore on charges of criminal sexual conduct. Huerta had been drinking with a friend at Huerta's house when he sexually attacked them. The diocese commented that it had suspended Huerta from ministry in 2019 and had petitioned the Vatican to laicize him.

Bishops

Bishops of Winona

# Joseph Bernard Cotter (1889–1909) # Patrick Richard Heffron (1910–1927) # Francis Martin Kelly (1928–1949) # Edward Aloysius Fitzgerald (1949–1969) # Loras Joseph Watters (1969–1986) # John George Vlazny (1987–1997), appointed Archbishop of Portland in Oregon # Bernard Joseph Harrington (1998–2009) # John M. Quinn (2009–2018), second see added in Rochester, name of diocese changed to Winona–Rochester

Bishops of Winona–Rochester

# John M. Quinn (2018–2022) # Robert E. Barron (2022–present)

Coadjutor bishop

Leo Binz (1942–1949), did not succeed to see; appointed coadjutor archbishop and Archbishop of Dubuque and later Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Auxiliary bishop

George Henry Speltz (1963–1966), appointed coadjutor bishop and later Bishop of Saint Cloud

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

Robert Henry Brom Robert Henry Brom (September 18, 1938 – May 9, 2022) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota, from 1983 to 1989, and as bishop of the Roman ...

, appointed Bishop of Duluth in 1983 and later Bishop of San Diego * Frederick William Freking, appointed Bishop of Salina in 1957 and later Bishop of La Crosse * Michael Joseph Hoeppner, appointed Bishop of Crookston in 2007 * John Hubert Peschges, appointed Bishop of Crookston in 1938

Education

Superintendents of schools

High schools

* Cotter High School – Winona * Lourdes High School – Rochester * Loyola Catholic School – Mankato * Pacelli High School – Austin

College

St. Mary's University of Minnesota– Winona

Seminaries

Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary – Winona

Arms

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona–Rochester Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester Winona Christian organizations established in 1889 Diocese of Winona Winona County, Minnesota Winona Winona 1889 establishments in Minnesota Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018