The first Catholic presence in North America was the proprietary Colony of Avalon, established by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore in 1610. A Catholic himself, Calvert intended the colony to be open to Irish and English Catholics facing persecution at home.
The future Archdiocese of St. John's was established 30 May 1784 as Catholics in Newfoundland gradually gained religious liberty, made explicit by a public declaration by Governor John Campbell. After a request from Irish merchants in St. John's to Bishop William Egan, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, James Louis O'Donel was appointed Prefect Apostolic of Newfoundland, as a pre-diocesan jurisdiction entitled to a titular bishop and exempt, i.e., directly subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province. In addition to O'Donel's personal popularity, one of his qualifications for the position was an ability to preach in Newfoundland Irish.
It was promoted to a Vicariate Apostolic on 5 January 1796 and on 4 June 1847 was elevated to a diocese.
In 1904, St. John's was elevated to an archdiocese.
In July 2021, the Archdiocese of St. John's announced plans to sell off assets in order to compensate victims of the Mount Cashel sex abuse scandal.[1]
For decades, the Archdiocese of St. John's has been tied to sex abuse scandals.[2]
In 1988, a scandal erupted over allegations of widespread abuse of children at Mount Cashel Orphanage.[3][4][5][6] From 1989 to 1993, nine Christian Brothers were charged and prosecuted for various criminal offences including sex offences against the boys of Mount Cashel orphanage.[7][8][9][10] The religious order that ran the orphanage filed for bankruptcy in the face of numerous lawsuits. Since the Mount Cashel scandal erupted, a number of priests across the country have been accused of sexual abuse.[11]
In July 2020, Rev. Peter Power, who was originally from the Archdiocese of Toronto, was charged with charges of sexual touching, sexual assault and committing an indecent act involving two teenaged boys, aged 18 and 16 years old at a residence in a small Newfoundland community earlier in the year.[12] Though officially retired, Power was still occasionally active in Catholic ministry when he relocated to Newfoundland.[12]
In July 2021, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of NL announced plans to sell off assets in order to compensate victims of the Mount Cashel sex abuse scandal.[16]
On July 5, 2024, a third-party insolvency monitor put forward a sum of $104 million to pay the victims of sexual abuse by the Archdiocese. A document filed with Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court put the net claim award at $104,074,667. Among the 367 claims filed, 292 had already been accepted, while 65 were disallowed and 10 were considered pending. The document stated the average payment to a claimant was $356,417.[17]
Patrick James Skinner, C.I.M. (1950-1951), appointed Archbishop of St. John's (1951)
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
William Aquin Carew, appointed titular Archbishop of Telde in 1969, serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi and Rwanda (1969-1974), Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Cyprus (1974-1983), Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine (1974-1983), and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Japan (1983-1997)
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