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Diocese of Beaumont Dioecesis Bellomontensis | |
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St. Anthony Cathedral-Basilica | |
![]() Coat of arms | |
Location | |
Country | ![]() |
Territory | The counties of Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, and Tyler in southeast Texas |
Ecclesiastical province | Galveston-Houston |
Headquarters | 710 Archie Street, Beaumont, Texas 77701 |
Statistics | |
Area | 7,878 sq mi (20,400 km2) |
Population
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Parishes | 44 |
Information | |
Denomination | Catholic |
Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | September 29, 1966 (58 years ago) |
Cathedral | Saint Anthony Cathedral Basilica |
Patron saint | St. Anthony of Padua |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Leo XIV |
Bishop | David Toups |
Metropolitan Archbishop | Joe S. Vásquez |
Vicar General | Very Rev. Shane Baxter [1] |
Judicial Vicar | Very Rev. Kevin Badeaux [2] |
Bishops emeritus | Curtis Guillory |
Map | |
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Website | |
dioceseofbmt.org |
The Diocese of Beaumont (Latin : Dioecesis Bellomontensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church covering nine counties in the state of Texas in the United States. It is a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica serves as the cathedral church.
The first Catholic mission in Texas, then part of the Spanish Empire, was San Francisco de los Tejas. It was founded by Franciscan Father Damián Massanet in 1690 in the Weches area. The priests left the mission after three years, then established a second mission, Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas. near present-day Alto in 1716. [3]
In 1839, after the 1836 founding of the Texas Republic, Pope Gregory XVI erected the prefecture apostolic of Texas, covering its present-day area. The prefecture was elevated to a vicariate apostolic in 1846, the year that Texas became an American state. On May 4, 1847, the vicariate became the Diocese of Galveston. [4] The Beaumont area would remain part of several Texas dioceses for the next 119 years.
On September 29, 1966, Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of Beaumont and appointed Vincent Harris of the Diocese of Galveston as its first bishop. [5] [6] During the 1960s, Harris put pressure on segregated Knights of Columbus councils in the diocese that refused to admit African-Americans. [7] In 1971, Harris became the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Austin. [8]
Bishop Warren Boudreaux of the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana replaced Harris in 1971. After the end of the Vietnam War, the diocese received national recognition for its resettlement of refugees from what was then South Vietnam. In 1974, Boudreaux began an outreach effort to people who made their living harvesting seafood and working on ships. [9] Boudreaux became bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in 1977.
Bishop Bernard J. Ganter of the Diocese of Tulsa was the third bishop of Beaumont, and took office in 1977. As bishop, Ganter established five new parishes, including the first Vietnamese-language parish in the United States. [10] He initiated the permanent diaconate and ordained 36 men between 1979 and 1992. [11] Ganter died in 1993.
In 1994, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Anthony Galante of the Archdiocese of San Antonio became the next bishop of Beaumont. Five years later, Galante was made coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Dallas. Auxiliary Bishop Curtis J. Guillory of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston replaced him in Beaumont. Guillory created the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Beaumont and started a capital campaign for it. [12] [13] Guillory retired in 2020.
David Toups from the Diocese of St. Petersburg was made bishop in 2020.
David Arceneaux of Nederland, Texas, sued the Diocese of Beaumont in 2010, claiming that he had been sexually abused by two diocesan priests, August Pucar and Roger Thibodeaux, when he was a minor. [14] Pucar was removed from ministerial duties in 2006 and ordered to a life of penance and prayer in 2007. [15] Thibodeaux resigned from ministry in 2002. [15]
In 2012, the diocese was sued by a man who claimed to have been sexually abused as a 14 year old by Revered Ronald Bollich in 1976 in Nacogdoches (now part of the Diocese of Tyler). [16] Bollich had been suspended from ministry in 1994. Four other plaintiffs then joined the lawsuit. The Diocese of Beaumont settled the lawsuit in 2013. [17]
In 2019, the diocese issued a list of 13 clergy, living and deceased, with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. [18]
Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School – Beaumont
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Above the vase are a silver (white) star between two silver (white) roses. The star comes from the Texas flag and seal, "The Lone Star State." The roses come from the coat of arms of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, from which the Diocese of Beaumont was erected in 1966. |