In 1680, a waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River was noted observed in a journal by Father Louis Hennepin, a Belgian Franciscan Recollect and explorer. Hennepin named them the Chutes de Saint-Antoine or the Falls of Saint Anthony after his patron saint, Anthony of Padua.[3]
In 1727 René Boucher de La Perrière and Michel Guignas built Fort Beauharnois on the shore of Lake Pepin. It was the site of the first Roman Catholic chapel in Minnesota, which was dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. Eventually it was abandoned as the French sent most of their troops to the east to fight the British in the French and Indian War.[3]
Some French-speaking colonists from Switzerland, having migrated from their original settlements near Fort Garry in Canada to a place seven or eight miles below Saint Anthony Falls, Bishop Loras of Dubuque, whose diocese included the entire region now called Minnesota, visited Fort Snelling and the nearby Swiss settlement in 1839, which was called Saint Pierre. In the following year he sent a missionary to Minnesota, Father Lucien Galtier. Galtier learned that a number of settlers, who had left the Red River Colony, had settled on the east bank of the Mississippi River. He decided that the area with the settlers was a better location for a church as it was near a steamboat landing, which had the potential for later development. Two French settlers offered a location for a church, and other settlers provided materials and labor to build a log chapel. Father Galtier wrote, "I had previously to this time fixed my residence at Saint Peter's and as the name of Paul is generally connected with that of Peter... I called it Saint Paul."[4] With the gradual increase of population about the chapel, the community developed into a village known as Saint Paul's Landing.
The original see was canonically erected by Pope Pius IX on July 19, 1850 as the Diocese of Saint Paul of Minnesota, a suffraganepiscopal see of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The diocese's territory was taken from that of Dubuque, and its authority spread over all of Minnesota Territory, which consisted of the area which now composes the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota and also comprises the modern archdiocese's ecclesiastical province. Its first ordinary was Bishop Joseph Crétin. In addition to the French Canadians large contingents of Irish and German Catholics arrived, who located in St. Paul, and in places along the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota Rivers.[5] In November 1851, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet came to St. Paul, and soon opened schools at St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls.
In January 1859, Thomas Grace was named Bishop of St. Paul. The number of Catholics in the diocese continued to grow, with many coming from Bohemia and Poland. The number of priests grew with the increase of the people, and they were so chosen as to correspond to the needs of the parishes. Hospitals were opened at Minneapolis and New Ulm, orphan asylums were erected at St. Paul and Minneapolis, and homes were established for the aged poor.[5] In February 1875, St. Paul was transferred from the ecclesiastical province of St. Louis to that of Milwaukee.
John Ireland was born in Burnchurch, County Kilkenny, Ireland. During the Civil War he served as chaplain to the Fifth Minnesota Regiment. He was appointed coadjutor to Bishop Grace, whom he succeeded in 1884. Pope Leo XIII elevated the see to the rank of archdiocese on May 4, 1888 and its name was changed to reflect this.[6] The creation of the Diocese of Winona diminished the territory of the archdiocese by the southern section of Minnesota.
Disturbed by reports that Catholic immigrants in eastern cities were suffering from social and economic handicaps, Ireland and Bishop John Lancaster Spalding of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, founded the Irish Catholic Colonization Association. This organization bought land in rural areas to the west and south and helped resettle Irish Catholics from the urban slums. Various settlements such as De Graff, Clontarf (Swift Co.), Adrian (Nobles Co.), Avoca, Fulda (Murry Co.), Graceville (Big Stone Co.), Minneota, and Ghent (Lyon Co.), owe their origin and prosperity to his labours.[5]
Charlotte Grace O'Brien, philanthropist and activist for the protection of female emigrants, found that often the illiterate young women were being tricked into prostitution through spurious offers of employment. She proposed an information bureau at Castle Garden, a temporary shelter to provide accommodation for immigrants, and a chapel, all to Archbishop Ireland, who she believed of all the American hierarchy, would be most sympathetic. Archbishop Ireland agreed to raise the matter at the May 1883 meeting of the Irish Catholic Association which endorsed the plan and voted to establish an information bureau at Castle Garden, the disembarkation point for immigrants arriving in New York.[7] The Irish Catholic Colonization Association was also instrumental in the establishment of the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary for the Protection of Irish Immigrant Girls.
Ireland was a strong supporter of the temperance movement, and of racial equality. On the other hand, his less than diplomatic relations with Eastern Catholics drove them into the Orthodox Church.[8]
The author of The Church and Modern Society (1897), Ireland opposed the use of foreign languages in American Catholic churches and parochial schools. National (ethnic) parishes were common at the time because of the large influx of immigrants to the U.S. from European countries. In this, he differed from Michael Corrigan, Archbishop of New York, who believed that the more quickly Catholics gave up their native languages, customs, and traditions in order to assimilate into a Protestant culture, the sooner they would forsake their religion as well. Different views on the so-called "Americanization" of the Catholic Church in the United States split the hierarchy in the 1890s.
Name Change
Pope Paul VI once again instituted a name change for the see on July 11, 1966. Reflecting the growth of the Catholic Church in the region, it became the "Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis", the name it retains today. Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt, succeeded to the post on the retirement of his predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, on May 2, 2008.[9] He stepped down on June 15, 2015 and Bernard Hebda was named the next Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.[10]
Sexual abuse cases and bankruptcy
On May 31, 2018, the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis agreed to pay victims of clergy sexual abuse a total of $210 million in settlement, which awaited court approval.[11] By the time the settlement was issued, 91 priests who served in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis were accused of sexually abusing 450 victims.[12] On June 27, 2018, the archdiocese filed for reorganization in order to find enough money to pay for the settlement.[13][14][15] Once approved, the settlement became the second largest in any Catholic bankruptcy case in United States history and largest overall for any archdiocese which was forced into bankruptcy.[16][17] On September 21, 2018, survivors of clergy abuse officially concluded a month-long vote which resulted in the approval the settlement;[18] the vote had started on August 21.[19][20] The settlement was then approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on September 25, 2018.[21]
Fr. James Porter and Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer were two of the most notorious predator priests to serve in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. In November 2012, Wehmeyer pled guilty to 20 sex abuse and child pornography charges.[22] In 2013, MPR News obtained a letter revealing that an archdiocesan official, the Rev. Kevin McDonough, had known of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis' decision in 2011 to cover up an allegation suggesting that Wehmeyer had sexually abused two brothers in his white 2006 camper.[23] When the reported abuse took place, the camper was parked outside Blessed Sacrament Church in St. Paul, where Wehmeyer served for six years and where the mother of the boys was working as well.[23] In May 2015, Wehmeyer was laicized by the Vatican while serving a five year prison sentence.[24] Though Porter, who would later be convicted in 1993 of sex abusing 28 children while serving in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts, was never convicted for alleged sex abuse he committed in Minnesota before he left the priesthood in 1974, he would serve four months in a Minnesota prison following a December 1992 conviction involving alleged sex abuse of his children's babysitter.[25][26] The Minnesota conviction, which also came with a six month prison sentence, was overturned shortly before his 1993 Massachusetts trial and conviction.[27][23]
In May 2018, Fr. John Bertrand was sentenced to 10 years probation after pleading guilty to having sexual contact with a woman at her Mendota Heights home under the guise of mass.[28][29] In September 2020, a lawsuit was filed alleging that sex abuse was "allowed" to be committed by at least one priest at a Minnesota Catholic music camp managed by Twin Cities-based Catholic music composer David Haas.[30] Haas himself has faced previous sex abuse allegations as well.[31]
Calls for a grand jury investigation
On August 22, 2018, Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul-based attorney[32] who investigated and sued the archdiocese, called for Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton to assemble a Grand Jury investigation similar to the one conducted in Pennsylvania. The proposed grand jury investigation would include the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis and all of its five suffragan dioceses.[33] Archbishop Hebda, Judge Tim O'Malley, director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, and Tom Abood, chairman of the Archdiocesan Financial Council and the Reorganization Task Force, issued a joint statement stating that the archdiocese "would cooperate" with a future grand jury investigation.[34] Caroline Burns, press secretary for Governor Dayton, stated that the case was under review and that the Governor would not publicly respond until after completing this review.[33]
Diocesan Synod
In 2019, after the bankruptcy was settled Archbishop Bernard Hebda called for an Archdiocesan Synod to set pastoral priotiries for the future of the diocese. Delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the synod will take place in June 2022.
The Archdiocese of New York is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. The Archdiocese of New York is the second-largest diocese in the United States by population, encompassing 296 parishes that serve around 2.8 million Catholics, in addition to hundreds of Catholic schools, hospitals and charities. The archdiocese also operates the well-known St. Joseph's Seminary, commonly referred to as Dunwoodie. The Archdiocese of New York is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of New York which includes the suffragan dioceses of Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre and Syracuse.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. It encompasses the City of Milwaukee, as well as the counties of Dodge, Fond du Lac, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha, all located in Wisconsin.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the City of St. Louis and the Missouri counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perry, Saint Charles, Saint Francois, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, Warren, and Washington. It is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province containing three suffragan sees: Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, the Diocese of Jefferson City, and the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.
Jerome George Hanus, O.S.B. is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, presiding as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1995 until 2013.
Harry Joseph Flynn was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis from 1995 to 2008. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette from 1989 to 1994.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church spanning Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Washington civil parishes of southeastern Louisiana. It is the second to the Archdiocese of Baltimore in age among the present dioceses in the United States, having been elevated to the rank of diocese on April 25, 1793, during Spanish colonial rule.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that comprises the territory of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York, except for Fishers Island, which is part of Suffolk County but is included in the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut. Founded in 1957, this diocese was created from territory that once belonged to the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Leo Binz was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Dubuque (1954–1961) and as Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis (1962–1975). A native of Illinois, he became a priest in 1924 and a bishop in 1942.
John Joseph Myers was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois between 1990 and 2001, ecclesiastical superior of Turks and Caicos from 2001 to 2016 and as archbishop of Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey during the same period.
The Diocese of Winona–Rochester is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Southern Minnesota. The diocese's episcopal see is found in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona, with the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist located in Rochester. The Diocese of Winona–Rochester is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
The Archdiocese of Newark is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northeastern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Union, Hudson and Essex.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth is a Roman Catholic diocese in Minnesota. The episcopal see is in Duluth, Minnesota. The diocese includes Aitkin, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Pine and St. Louis Counties.
The Diocese of New Ulm is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in western Minnesota, United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The see for the diocese is New Ulm. The Cathedral parish is the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. It encompasses the counties of Big Stone, Brown, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Sibley, Swift, and Yellow Medicine in Minnesota.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud is a Roman Catholic diocese in Minnesota, United States. This diocese covers Benton, Douglas, Grant, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Otter Tail, Pope, Sherburne, Stearns, Stevens, Todd, Traverse, Wadena, and Wilkin counties. It is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Its See city is Saint Cloud. The cathedral parish is the Cathedral of St. Mary. On September 20, 2013, Pope Francis named Donald Joseph Kettler bishop.
Frederick Francis Campbell is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Campbell served as the Bishop of Columbus in Ohio from 2005 to 2019 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1999 to 2004.
William Henry Bullock was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Madison in Wisconsin from 1993 to 2003.
John Clayton Nienstedt is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the eighth archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota from 2008 to 2015. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota from 2001 to 2007 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit from 1996 to 2001.
John Francis Kinney was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud in Minnesota from 1995 to 2013.
Bernard Anthony Hebda is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has served as the twelfth ordinary of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis since March 24, 2016.
Donald Edward DeGrood is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Sioux Falls in South Dakota since 2019.
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