The Diocese of Saint Petersburg () 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 In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

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 the Tampa Bay region of Gulf Coast

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The Diocese of Saint Petersburg 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 An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

of the metropolitan

Archdiocese of Miami The Archdiocese of Miami (, , ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in South Florida in the United States. It is the metropolitan see for the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, which ...

. Its mother church is St. Jude the Apostle Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Florida. As of 2016, the current bishop is Gregory Parkes.

Statistics

The Diocese of St. Petersburg comprises , encompassing Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, and

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

counties. The principal cities are

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. As of 2023, the diocese had a total Catholic population of approximately 500,000, with 280,000 of them registered with the diocese.

History

Background

In 1539, Spanish explorer

Hernando De Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...

, hoping to find gold in Florida, landed near present-day Port Charlotte or

San Carlos Bay San Carlos Bay is a bay located southwest of Fort Myers, Florida, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It connects to Pine Island Sound to the west and to Matlacha Pass to the north. The bay contains Bunche Beach Preserve, a 718-acre conserva ...

. DeSoto led an expedition of 10 ships and 620 men. His company included 12 priests, there to evangelize the Native Americans. His priests celebrated mass almost every day. The De Soto expedition later proceeded to the

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

area and then into central Florida. The Spanish missionary Reverend Luis de Cáncer arrived by sea with several Dominican priests in present-day

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a principal city in the Sarasota metropolitan area. Dow ...

in 1549. Encountering a seemingly peaceful party of

Tocobaga Tocobaga (occasionally Tocopaca) was the name of a chiefdom of Native Americans, its chief, and its principal town during the 16th century. The chiefdom was centered around the northern end of Old Tampa Bay, the arm of Tampa Bay that extends betw ...

clan members, they decided to travel on to Tampa Bay. Several of the priests went overland with the Tocobaga while Cáncer and the rest of the party sailed to Tampa Bay to meet them. Arriving at Tampa Bay, Cáncer learned, while still on his ship, that the Tocobaga had murdered the priests in the overland party. Ignoring advice to leave the area, Cáncer went ashore, where he too was murdered. The Spanish attempted to establish another mission in the Tampa Bay area in 1567, but it was soon abandoned. After the end of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

in 1763, Spain ceded all of Florida to Great Britain for the return of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Given the antagonism of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Great Britain to Catholicism, the majority of the Catholic population in Florida fled to Cuba. After the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, Spain regained control of Florida in 1784. In 1793, the Vatican changed the jurisdiction for Florida Catholics from Havana to the Apostolic Vicariate of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, based in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. In the

Adams–Onís Treaty The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Spanish Cession, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p. 168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to ...

of 1819, Spain ceded all of Florida to the United States, which established the

Florida Territory The Territory of Florida was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 30, 1822, until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the state of Florida. Originally the major portion of the Spanish ...

in 1821. In 1825,

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII (; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829. ...

erected the Vicariate of Alabama and Florida, which included all of Florida, based in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

. In 1858, Pius IX moved Florida into a new Apostolic Vicariate of Florida, which in 1870 was elevated into the Diocese of St. Augustine. The Tampa Bay region would remain part of this diocese for the next 98 years. The first Catholic parish in Tampa,

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, was founded in 1859. The

Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (Soeurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie) is a teaching religious institute founded at Longueuil, Québec, Canada, in 1843 by Blessed Mother Marie Rose Durocher for the Christian education of ...

founded the Academy of the Holy Names, a girls school in Tampa, in 1881. It was the first Catholic school on the Florida Gulf Coast. Arizona jurist Edmund F. Dunne established the Catholic colony of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Pasco County Pasco County is a county located on the west central coast in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2024, the population of the county is 656,851, making it the tenth-most populous county in the state. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest c ...

in the early 1880s. The community originally practising Catholics as residents; most of them were Irish and German immigrants.Horgan, James J. (1990). ''Pioneer College: The Centennial History of Saint Leo College, Saint Leo Abbey, and Holy Name Priory''. Saint Leo, FL. Saint Leo College Press. A contingent of

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks arrived in

San Antonio, Florida San Antonio, or unofficially "''San Ann''" or "''San An''" as the locals call it, is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, m ...

, in 1886 initially to serve German immigrants. A yellow fever epidemic in Tampa in 1888 killed three of the priests in the area. Bishop John Moore then invited the Society of Jesus in New Orleans to assume control of the parishes in southern and central Florida. In succeeding years, as the area grew in population. the Jesuits established more parishes and schools.

monks and nuns entered the region in 1880s, founding

Saint Leo Abbey Saint Leo Abbey is an American-Cassinese monastery of Benedictine monks located in Saint Leo, Florida, United States. History Saint Leo Abbey, located in Pasco County, Florida, traces its beginnings to 1882 when Judge Edmund F. Dunne founde ...

in 1886 and Holy Name Priory in 1889, both in Saint Leo, Florida. The Sisters of St. Joseph, the

Redemptorists The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala ...

and the

Salesians The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...

also entered the diocese. In 1889, Bishop John Moore asked the Benedictines to establish several mission churches on the Florida Gulf Coast from

northward.Saint Mary, Our Lady of Grace, founded in 1908, was the first Catholic parish in St. Petersburg. The first Catholic church in Clearwater, St. Cecilia, was dedicated in 1924. San Antonio FL Church01

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bishop Joseph P. Hurley of St. Augustine started a massive program of purchasing property throughout Florida to develop new parishes for the increasing Catholic population. He also recruited many priests from the northern states and Ireland to serve in Florida. He founded over 40% of the parishes within the present Diocese of St. Petersburg.

Establishment and early history

On June 17, 1968,

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 ...

erected the Diocese of St. Petersburg with territory taken from St. Augustine and the Diocese of Miami. The new diocese included most of the Florida Gulf Coast. He appointed Auxiliary Bishop Charles B. McLaughlin of the Diocese of Raleigh as the first bishop of St. Petersburg. The pope designated the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg as its seat. McLaughlin's main task was to set up the new diocese. McLaughlin, a pilot, often flew from event to event, earning him the nickname "Hurricane Charlie." He died in 1978. Monsignor W. Thomas Larkin, the

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the diocese and interim diocesan administrator, was appointed the second bishop of St. Petersburg by

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 1979. Larkin established fifteen new parishes and three new schools. In 1983, Larkin dedicated the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. John Paul II erected the Diocese of Venice in Florida in 1983, taking most of its territory from the Diocese of St. Petersburg. Larkin created new offices for African-American and Hispanic Catholics, along with an office for Catholics with disabilities. Larkin also worked on services for the needy and for those with

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, and was a strong advocate for ecumenicism. Larkin retired in 1988.

Later history

John Paul II named Bishop

John Favalora John Clement Favalora (born December 5, 1935) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, Archdiocese of Miami from 1994 to 2010 and as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese ...

of the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana as the next bishop of St. Petersburg in 1989. He reorganized diocesan administrative functions and consolidated outreach programs. He started WLMS 88.3 FM to serve the northern area of the diocese. In 1993, Favarola declared a "A Year of Favor From The Lord" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the erection of the diocese. In 1994, Favalora became archbishop of Miami. John Paul II in 1995 appointed Reverend Robert N. Lynch of Miami as the fourth bishop of St. Petersburg. In the summer of 1998, Lynch inaugurated the Renew 2000 program to educated and motivate Catholic laity in the diocese. Later that year, he gave support to the Lay Pastoral Ministry Institute, a formal training program for the laity. Lynch also started a program to forgive the debt of parishes. In 2000, Lynch opened the Bishop W. Thomas Larkin Pastoral Center in St. Petersburg, consolidating ministries from throughout the diocese. The first diocesan

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

was held in 2002 and the first eucharistic congress in 2003. He successfully completed the first

capital campaign Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

of the diocese. With this funding, Lynch opened

Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School (BMCHS) is a private high school located in northern Pasco County, Florida, United States, not far from Spring Hill, in the Diocese of St. Petersburg. BMCHS is fully accredited by the Southern Associatio ...

in Spring Hill in 2003 and the Bethany Retreat Center in Lutz in 2007. Lynch also opened Pinellas Hope, a homeless shelter in

Pinellas Park Pinellas Park is a city located in central Pinellas County, United States. The population was 53,093 at the 2020 census. The city is the fourth largest city in Pinellas County. The City of Pinellas Park was incorporated in 1914. It is part of the ...

that evolved into a service center for the

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

. After Lynch retired in 2016,

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 ...

that same year appointed Bishop

Gregory Parkes Gregory Lawrence Parkes (born April 2, 1964) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Parkes has been serving as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida since 2017. He served as bishop of the Diocese o ...

of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee as his replacement. In 2018, Parkes consecrated the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Sex abuse

In 2001, Bill Urbanski, the former diocesan spokesman, accused Bishop Lynch of inappropriate behavior during a business trip. Urbanski said Lynch bought him lavish gifts, forced to him to share a hotel room, grabbed his thigh at one point, and asked Urbanski to photograph him topless for a gag picture. The diocese denied any wrongdoing by Lynch, but paid Urbanski $100,000 in

severance pay Severance may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film * ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma *''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler * ''Severance'' (TV series), ...

. Lynch apologized for his actions. Reverend Robert L. Schaeufele was arrested in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in June 2002 on capital

sexual battery Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating reasonable fear or apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more gen ...

charges from

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 959,107, making it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most d ...

in Florida. Two men had accused him of giving them

enema An enema, also known as a clyster, is the rectal administration of a fluid by injection into the Large intestine, lower bowel via the anus.Cullingworth, ''A Manual of Nursing, Medical and Surgical'':155 The word ''enema'' can also refer to the ...

s when they were 11 years old at Sacred Heart Church in

from 1983 to 1985. Schaeufele pleaded guilty in June 2003 to attempted capital

and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Four of Schaeufele's victims sued the diocese in November 2003, claiming that it allowed him access to young children despite previous complaints about his behavior. By December 2003, seven lawsuits had been filed against the diocese regarding Schaeufele. In April 2004, the diocese reached a settlement with 12 victims of Shaeufele for $1.1 million. Texas authorities arrested Reverend Gerry Appleby in March 2003 on a warrant from

in Florida. Two men had accused him of sexually abusing them when they were minors at St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Parish in

Tarpon Springs Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and underwent beautification in 2010. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 25,117 at the 2020 census. As of ...

during 1978 or 1979. Appleby left Florida for Texas in 1979. A man had reported abuse by Appleby to the diocese in 1994; Appleby was laicized by the Vatican in 1995. In May 2004, Appleby pleaded guilty to attempted capital sexual battery and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 2011, Lynch published a letter detailing how the diocese had spent $4.7 million since 1990 to settle sexual misconduct cases. In October 2018, Mark Cattell, a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

in Virginia, sued the diocese, claiming that he had been sexually assaulted by Reverend Robert D. Huneke from Christ the King Parish in Tampa. Cattell said that Hunke forced him to perform oral sex on him in 1981 when he was nine-years-old. * As part of the lawsuit, Cattell showed letters from John Salveson to the

Diocese of Rockville Centre The Diocese of Rockville Centre () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the Long Island region of New York State in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

, Huneke's previous posting in New York, accusing him of sexual assault. * Another letter from Hunke to Rockville contained an admission of misconduct there. Salveston in 1980 wrote to Bishop Larkin, warning him about Huneke. Despite Salveson's complaints, the diocese did not remove Huneke from ministry in St. Petersburg until 1982. Huneke then returned to New York, where he faced more sexual abuse accusations. He left the priesthood in 1989. As of May 2020, the diocese lists nine priests and five lay workers as having credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. The list does not include religious priests, brothers or nuns.

Bishops

Bishops of St. Petersburg

# Charles Borromeo McLaughlin (1968 – 1978) #

William Thomas Larkin William Thomas Larkin (March 31, 1923 – November 4, 2006) was a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida from 1979 to 1988. Biography Early life William Larkin was born in ...

(1979 – 1988) # John Clement Favalora (1989 – 1994), appointed

Archbishop of Miami The Archdiocese of Miami (, , ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in South Florida in the United States. It is the metropolitan see for the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, which ...

# Robert Nugent Lynch (1995 – 2016) # Gregory Lawrence Parkes (2017 – present)

Auxiliary bishop

Joseph Keith Symons (1981 – 1983), appointed Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee

Other diocesan priest who became a bishop

David Leon Toups, appointed Bishop of Beaumont in 2020

Coat of arms

Education

As of 2023, the Diocese of St. Petersburg had 46 schools and early childhood centers along with two universities.

High schools

* Academy of the Holy Names – Tampa *

– Spring Hill *

Clearwater Central Catholic High School Clearwater Central Catholic High School is a private college preparatory school for grades 9 through 12 and located in Clearwater, Florida, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1962, the school enrolls approximately 500 ...

– Clearwater * Jesuit High School – Tampa * St. Petersburg Catholic High School – St. Petersburg *

Tampa Catholic High School Tampa Catholic High School is a diocesan, Catholic, coeducational high school located in Tampa, Florida, United States, founded in 1962. It is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg. Its motto is "Veritas et Caritas," which means "T ...

– Tampa

References

External links

Diocese of Saint Petersburg Official Site
{{authority control Christian organizations established in 1968

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

1968 establishments in Florida