The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western Oregon in the United States.
Established in 1846, it was the second Catholic archdiocese established in the United States after the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In 2004, during a sexual abuse scandal, it became the first archdiocese to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The mother church of the archdiocese is St. Mary's cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland. As of 2023, the archbishop of Portland is Alexander Sample.
Statistics
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon has the following suffragan dioceses:
As of 2024, the archdiocese served 430,700 Catholics. It had 101 diocesan priests, 129 religious priests, 71 permanent deacons, 343 women religious, and 58 religious brothers. The archdiocese had 124 parishes, 23 missions, one seminary, 41 elementary schools, ten secondary schools, and two Catholic colleges.[2]
History
1810 to 1846
When the American expedition of 1810 entered the Willamette Valley of present-day Oregon, it included 13 French-Canadian Catholics. Several of them, including the fur trader Étienne Lucier, decided to settle there.[3] By 1829, Lucier had established a permanent land claim next to the Willamette Fur Post near French Prairie. At this time, the region was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain.
In 1836, Lucier and 15 other Catholic settlers petitioned Auxiliary Bishop Norbert Provencher, head of the church in present-day Manitoba, to send a priest to their settlement. They constructed St. Paul's Church, the oldest church in Oregon, in St. Paul, Oregon, that same year.[4] However, the British-owned Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) which owned fur trading concessions in the region, objected to Provencher establishing a Catholic mission in the Willamette Valley. To appease the HBC, Provencher agreed to move the mission north of the Columbia River into present-day Washington State. In 1838, he sent the missionary priests Reverend François Norbert Blanchet and Reverend Modeste Demers to Fort Vancouver in Washington.[4][5]
In 1846, after the United States and Great Britain settled their borders in the Pacific Northwest, the Vatican elevated the vicariate apostolic to the Archdiocese of Oregon City. The pope designated the Diocese of Walla Walla in Washington State and the Diocese of Vancouver Island in British Columbia as suffragan dioceses.[7] Oregon City became the second American archdiocese, preceded only by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.[5] The pope named Blanchet as the first archbishop of Oregon City.[8]
In 1853, the first Catholic church in Salem, St. Joseph's, was founded.[9] The Vatican erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho and Montana in 1868, taking those territories from the Archdiocese of Oregon City.[7] In 1870, the Catholic Sentinel was founded as the official newspaper of the archdiocese.
Pope Leo XIII named Bishop Charles John Seghers of Vancouver Island as coadjutor archbishop in Oregon City to assist Blanchet in 1878.[10] When Blanchet retired in 1880, Seghers automatically succeeded him as bishop. In 1884, Seghers successfully petitioned the Vatican to reappoint him as bishop of Vancouver Island so that he could continue missionary work in Alaska.
The next archbishop of Oregon City was Bishop Alexander Christie of Vancouver Island, named by Leo XIII in 1899.[14] In 1901, Christie obtained the former campus of Portland University, a Methodist institution. He traded the campus for a couple of archdiocesan properties plus a payment of $1.[15] Christie reopened the school as Columbia University, which is today the University of Portland.[16][17]
On September 26, 1928, the Vatican renamed the Archdiocese of Oregon City as the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon because Portland had grown much larger than Oregon City.[21] To avoid confusion with the Diocese of Portland in Maine, the Vatican added "in Oregon" to the archdiocesan name.[22]
In 1931, Howard led a successful campaign to repeal local zoning ordinances that prohibited the building of churches and parochial schools.[22] He convened the Fourth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1932, and held a synod for the clergy in 1935.[22] In 1939, he founded Central Catholic High School in Portland.[23] He convened the Fifth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1957.[22] Howard retired in 1966 after 38 years as bishop. Pope Paul VI appointed Bishop Robert Dwyer from the Diocese of Reno as the second archbishop of Portland in Oregon in 1966. Dwyer retired in 1974 due to poor health.[24] To replace Dwyer, Paul VI named Bishop Cornelius Power of Yakima as archbishop in 1974.[25]
During his tenure in Portland, Power formed a five-year plan for the archdiocese and created an endowment fund. He founded the Oregon Catholic Conference and held the first clergy and archdiocesan conventions. He reorganized the local curia, Catholic Charities, and re-established Catholic Truth Society of Oregon as the Oregon Catholic Press. Power also encouraged ministries to Spanish-speaking and Southeast Asian residents.[26] He retired in 1986.
Auxiliary Bishop William Levada of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was the next archbishop of Portland in Oregon, named by Pope John Paul II in 1986. During his tenure in Portland, Levada helped to revitalize Mount Angel Seminary.[27] He briefly taught at the seminary as well. He also reorganized Catholic Charities, worked in outreach to the Hispanic Catholic community, and renovated St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.[27] Levada became archbishop of San Francisco in 1995.
In 1996 the title of Archbishop of Oregon City was revived as a titular see; since 2009, the titular Archbishop has been Joseph Augustine Di Noia.
Bankruptcy
The archdiocese's sexual abuse scandal prompted the archbishop to file for Chapter 11 reorganization for the archdiocese on July 6, 2004. Portland became the first archdiocese or diocese to file for bankruptcy.[29][30][31] Vlazny described his actions by saying, "This is not an effort to avoid responsibility. It is, in fact, the only way I can assure that other claimants can be offered fair compensation."[30] In February 2009, the Oregon Jesuit Province also filed for bankruptcy as well.[32]
Clergy sexual abuse settlements
In April 2007, the archdiocese announced a settlement with sexual abuse victims and the bankruptcy court had approved a financial plan of reorganization.[33] The archdiocese paid $71.45 million to 169 victims, averaging $342,000 each; this was the eighth-largest sexual abuse settlement by a Catholic diocese or archdiocese in American history. The bankruptcy filings listed 11 archdiocese priests as perpetrators of sexual abuse.[34]
In March 2011, the Oregon Jesuit Province agreed to pay $166.1 million in damages to nearly 500 victims of sexual abuse by Jesuit clergy.[35]
On August 6, 2016, World Spark, a retirement home provider run by Portland priest Michael Maslowsky, was forced to surrender documents showing that there had been numerous complaints of sex abuse against vulnerable residents at World Spark's St. Anthony Village elderly home, including some with dementia, between 2009 and 2016.[36] By order, the documents were given to a plaintiff from a lawsuit which began in 2014.[36] On October 1, 2018, it was revealed that Pope Francis had defrocked Maslowsky that summer.[37]
In 2018, Sample acknowledged the history of sex abuse in the archdiocese which he described as an "institutional and spiritual" failure,[38] and issued an apology.[38] At the same time, it was reported that more than 100 sex abuse lawsuits were settled prior to the 2004 bankruptcy.[38] More settlements were issued in August 2019 when the Archdiocese of Portland agreed to pay nearly $4 million to eight men who said they were sexually abused by Pius Brazaukus in the 1970s and the 1980s.[39][40]
Edward Daniel Howard was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Auxiliary Bishop of Davenport from 1924 to 1926 and the Archbishop of Portland from 1926 to 1966. At the time of his death in 1983 he was the oldest Catholic bishop in the world.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. The Archdiocese of San Francisco was erected on July 29, 1853, by Pope Pius IX and its cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption.
John George Vlazny is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the tenth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon from 1997 to 2013.
The Diocese of Stockton is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the Central Valley and Mother Lode region of California in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco
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The Archdiocese of Seattle is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in western Washington State in the United States. The Diocese was known as the Diocese of Nesqually from 1850 to 1907. The mother church of the archdiocese is St. James Cathedral in Seattle. The former cathedral is the Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater in Vancouver. Its archbishop since 2019 is Paul D. Etienne.
The Diocese of Winona–Rochester is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in Southern Minnesota in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
The Diocese of Baker is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Eastern Oregon in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Portland.
The Diocese of Boise is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in Idaho in the United States.
François Norbert Blanchet was a French Canadian-born missionary priest and prelate of the Catholic Church who was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church presence in the Pacific Northwest. He was one of the first Catholic priests to arrive in what was then known as the Oregon Country and subsequently became the first bishop and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oregon City.
The Diocese of Saint Cloud is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in central Minnesota in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
The Diocese of Portland is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church for the entire state of Maine in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston.
William Joseph Levada was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. From May 2005 until June 2012, he served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI; he was the highest ranking American in the Roman Curia. He was previously the Archbishop of Portland in Oregon from 1986 to 1995, and then Archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005. While serving as archbishop, he was criticized for covering up sexual abuse by priests within his jurisdiction. Levada was created a cardinal in 2006 by Benedict XVI.
Alexander King Sample is an American Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Portland since 2013. He previously served as Bishop of Marquette from 2005 to 2013.
Michael Joseph Hoeppner is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston in Minnesota from November 30, 2007, to April 13, 2021.
Augustin Magloire Alexandre Blanchet was a French Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the now-defunct Diocese of Walla Walla and of the Diocese of Nesqually in present-day Washington.
The sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon in the United States is an important chapter in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States. During its course in July 2004, the archdiocese under Archbishop John George Vlazny filed for bankruptcy.
Kenneth Donald Steiner is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon from 1978 to 2011.
Liam Stephen Cary is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as bishop of the Diocese of Baker in Oregon since 2012.
Peter Leslie Smith is a South African-born Catholic prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Portland since 2014.
↑ Corning, Howard M. Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. p. 215
↑ Schoenberg, Wilfrid S.J. A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest 1743 - 1983, The Pastoral Press Washington D.C. 1987 pp. 140-142 ISBN0-912405-25-2
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