Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh

The Diocese of Raleigh is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that covers the eastern half of the state of North Carolina in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archbishop of Atlanta.

Diocese of Raleigh

Diœcesis Raleighiensis
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location
Country United States
TerritoryEastern half of North Carolina
Ecclesiastical provinceAtlanta
MetropolitanAtlanta
Statistics
Area31,875 km2 (12,307 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 2010)
4,432,901
217,125 (4.9%)
Parishes78
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedMarch 3, 1868 (154 years ago)
CathedralHoly Name of Jesus Cathedral
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopLuis Rafael Zarama
Metropolitan ArchbishopGregory John Hartmayer
Map
Website
dioceseofraleigh.org

On July 5, 2017, Pope Francis named Luis Rafael Zarama to be the 6th Bishop of Raleigh; Zarama was installed on August 29, 2017, at the recently consecrated Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh.

History

On March 3, 1868, Pope Pius IX erected the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina. He removed the state of North Carolina from the Diocese of Charleston to create this separate vicariate apostolic, a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In 1876, Benedictine monks from St. Vincent's Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, arrived in Belmonth, North Carolina to establish a priory. Pope Leo XIII elevated the priory to an abbey, known as Belmont Abbey, on December 19, 1884[1] The monks elected Father Leo Haid as their first abbot.

On February 4, 1888, Leo XIII appointed Haid as apostolic vicar of North Carolina and titular bishop of Messine;[2]he was consecrated on July 1, 1888. It was unusual to appoint an acting abbot as the vicar apostolic of a territory. This arrangement became even more unusual when Pope Pius X designated Belmont Abbey as a territorial abbey. The pope removed Gaston, Catawba, Cleveland, Burke, Lincoln, McDowell, Polk, and Rutherford Counties from the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina and put them under the authority of Belmont. Haid died on July 24, 1924.[3]Although Belmont continued as a territorial abbey, its next abbot was not appointed as a bishop of the apostolic vicariate.

On December 12, 1924, Pope Pius XI elevated the Apostolic Vicariate of North Carolina to the Diocese of Raleigh, making it the first Catholic diocese in the state of North Carolina.[4]

Pope Pius XII transferred all but Gaston Country from the Belmont territorial abbey to the Diocese of Raleigh on April 17, 1944. Pope John XXIII transferred Gaston County to the Diocese of Raleigh in July 1960,[5] reducing the territorial abbey to the monastery grounds. Nevertheless, Belmont's status as a territorial abbey continued, with Abbot Walter Coggin participating in the Second Vatican Council in Rome as an ordinary.[1]

On February 10, 1962, John XXIII elevated the Diocese of Atlanta to a metropolitan see and transferred both the Diocese of Raleigh and Belmont Abbey there as sufragens from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Pope Paul VI on November 12, 1971, erected the Diocese of Charlotte. He removed all the territory from the Diocese of Raleigh that had previously belonged to Belmont Abbey to create the new diocese.[6] This action created the current boundaries of the Diocese of Raleigh. Paul VI terminaed the status of Belmont Abbey as a territorial abbey on January 1, 1977, and incorporated it into the Diocese of Charlotte.

Cathedral churches
Sacred Heart in Raleigh, the diocese's first cathedral

The bishop of Raleigh is seated at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina. The cathedral was designed by the O'Brien and Keane firm of Arlington, Virginia in the Romanesque Revival style. It contains a cruciform floor plan with a dome over the crossing. Its 42 stained glass windows and stations of the cross came from closed churches in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Beyer Studio of Philadelphia restored the windows before they were installed.[7] Construction on the cathedral commenced January 3, 2015.[8] It was dedicated on July 26, 2017.

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh had served as the diocesan cathedral from 1924 to 2017. After the dedication of Holy Name of Jesus in 2017, Sacred Heart was relegated to a parish church.

The Basilica Shrine of St. Mary in Wilmington, North Carolia served as a cathedral for the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina until its termination in 1924. The former Pro-Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle in Wilmington was secularized and sold off by the diocese.

Sexual abuse

In June 2002, in a meeting with officials of the Diocese of Scranton, a Pennsylvania man claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Edward J. Shoback, a Diocese of Raleigh priest. The alleged attacks took place in North Carolina in the 1970's when the victim was a seminarian in the diocese. The diocese later terminated the victim from serminary study there.[9]

In 2007, Justin David Scranton, an English teacher and cross country coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, admitted to acting inappropriately toward a student. The school suspended him during an investigation.[10] Scranton was arrested on February 28, 2007, on charges that he took indecent liberties with a female student.[11] In March 2007 a group of protesters, some alleged victims of clerical sexual abuse, stood outside the diocesan offices, claiming that Bishop Michael Burbidge refused to meet with them.[12] Later in 2007, the diocese paid almost $2 million to settle sexual misconduct claims made by thirty-seven people against at least fifteen priests since the 1950s.[13] By September 2020, settlements paid by the Diocese of Raleigh in sexual misconduct cases since 1950 totaled $2,717,750.[14]

In July 2015, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled to allow the advancement to trial of a lawsuit against the Diocese of Raleigh and Burbidge over an allegation of child sexual abuse by Reverend Edgar Sepulveda.[15] The alleged victim was sixteen year old boy who claimed being abused by Sepulveda when he was a priest of the Santa Teresa del Niño Jesús Mission in Beulaville, North Carolina.[16] Sepulveda denied all the accusations. He had been arrested in 2010 and charged with second-degree sexual offense and sexual battery, but the criminal charges were dropped by Brunswick County prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence. At that time, Burbidge had put Sepulveda on administrative leave, prohibiting him from visiting any parish or Catholic school, and removed him from residence on church grounds.[17]

Lawyers for the victims claimed that Burbridge had been negligent and had inflicted further emotional distress on the victim by refusing to order Sepulveda to undergo testing for sexually transmitted diseases and then share results with the victim's family.[18] Lawyers for the diocese and Burbridge denied that he or other church officials had any knowledge of Sepulveda's alleged actions.[19] The court alllowed the lawsuit to proceed, rejected arguments made by defense lawyers that it violated the separation of church and state in the United States Constitution.

In 2013, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests criticized Burbidge and Bishop Peter J. Jugis of the Diocese of Charlotte for not warning families in their dioceses about Raymond P. Melville. Aformer Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse crimes in Maine and in Maryland, Melville had moved to North Carolina.[20][21]

In August 2018. a grand jury report regarding sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania named two former North Carolina priests in the list of 301 priests guilty of sexual abuse.[22]Reverend William Presley and Reverend Robert Spangenberg both worked in the Diocese of Raleigh in the 1970s and 1980s. Presley, whom the report describes as a "violent predator who insinuated himself into the lives of families for the purpose of getting close enough to their children that he could abuse them",[23] had served at a parish in Kinston, North Carolina, from 1981 until 1983. Spangenberg had served at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Parish in Newton Grove, North Carolina, and Immaculate Conception Catholic Parish in Clinton, North Carolina, from 1977 until 1979.[24][25]

By May 2020, 29 clergy were listed on the Diocese of Raleigh's list of clergy who, as far back as 1950, had served in the diocese and were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sex abuse.[26] Those listed either had claims of abuse against them while serving in the diocese or had reports of abuse elsewhere.[26]

Bishops

Vicars Apostolic of North Carolina
  1. James Gibbons (1868–1877), appointed Bishop of Richmond and later Archbishop of Baltimore (elevated to Cardinal in 1886)
    - Stanislaus Mark Gross (1880–1881) - appointed, but never actually took possession
  2. Henry Pinckney Northrop (1881–1888), appointed Bishop of Charleston
  3. Leo Michael Haid, O.S.B. (1888–1924), concurrently abbot of Belmont Abbey

Bishops of Raleigh
  1. William J. Hafey (1925–1937), appointed Bishop of Scranton
  2. Eugene J. McGuinness (1938–1944), appointed Bishop of Oklahoma City-Tulsa
  3. Vincent S. Waters (1945–1974)
  4. Francis J. Gossman (1975–2006)
  5. Michael Francis Burbidge (2006–2016), appointed Bishop of Arlington
  6. Luis Rafael Zarama (2017–present)

Former auxiliary bishops of Raleigh

Other priests in the diocese who became bishops

Statistics and extent of the diocese

As per 2015, it pastorally served 231,230 Catholics (4.7% of 4,874,815 total) on 82,556 km² in 79 parishes and 5 missions with 162 priests (114 diocesan, 48 religious), 73 deacons, 90 lay religious (52 brothers, 38 sisters) and 29 seminarians.

In 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh contained seven Catholic centers on college campuses; 70 active diocesan priests and 49 active religious priests; 64 religious sisters; 47 religious men; 217,000 registered Catholics; and 240,000 unregistered Hispanics.[27]

Catholic education in the diocese

The Diocese of Raleigh currently has two high schools, as well as a lay-run high school and many lower schools. Of these include;

High schools

Radio station

The diocese is the licensee for a low power FM station, WSHP-LP, 103.3 MHz, located in Cary, North Carolina. Responsibility for this station's operation is primarily held by Divine Mercy Radio, Inc., a local lay apostolate organization.

See also
Wikisource has the text of a 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article about Vicarate Apostolic of North Carolina.

References
  1. "ABOUT US".
  2. "Bishop Leo Michael Haid [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
  3. Ibid.
  4. "History of the Diocese". Diocese of Raleigh. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  5. "Raleigh (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
  6. Hains, David (2006). Voices and Places of the People of God. Strasbourg: Éditions du Signe. p. 16. ISBN 978-2746817371.
  7. "New Cathedral Design – Inspired by You". Diocese of Raleigh. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  8. "Diocese breaks ground for new cathedral". Diocese of Raleigh. Retrieved 2016-02-26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury" (PDF). Bishop Accountability. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  10. "Warrant: Raleigh Teacher Admits Acting Inappropriately With Student". WRAL News. Capitol Broadcasting Company. 7 March 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  11. Quillin, Martha (16 March 2007). "Sexual Abuse Victims Backed". Bishop Accountability. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  12. "Raleigh's Diocese Accused of Sex Abuse Cover-Up". WRAL News. Capitol Broadcasting Company. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  13. "Raleigh diocese paid $1.2 million to settle abuse claims in 2006". Cult Education Institute. 5 January 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  14. List of Clergy with Actionable Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, Accessed September 18, 2020
  15. "NC--Victims applaud new ruling in pedophile priest case". Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  16. "NC Appeals Court allows priest sex abuse lawsuit to proceed". WXII 12 News. Hearst Television. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  17. Biesecker, Michael (7 July 2015). "NC Appeals Court allows priest sex abuse lawsuit to proceed". The Washington Times. Larry Beasley. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  18. "DOE 200 v. DIOCESE OF RALEIGH". Find Law. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  19. "Court allows priest sex abuse lawsuit to proceed". Winston-Salem Journal. Berkshire Hathaway. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  20. Harrison, Judy (12 November 2013). "Supreme court rules against Augusta man in his suit against Catholic diocese over priest abuse". Bangor Daily News. Bangor Publishing Company. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  21. "NC - Alleged predator priest, now in NC, gets "off the hook"". Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  22. "2 FORMER NC PRIESTS NAMED IN CHILD SEX ABUSE REPORT". WWAY News. Morris Multimedia. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  23. Former NC priest is named in grand jury report on Catholic sex abuse
  24. "Two former NC priests named in Pennsylvania clergy sex abuse report". WRAL News. Capitol Broadcasting Company. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  25. "2 priests formerly with Catholic Diocese of Raleigh named in child sex abuse report". CBS17. CBS Corporation. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  26. CList of Clergy with Actionable Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors, Accessed May 1, 2021
  27. "The Diocese". Diocese of Raleigh. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

Bibliography

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