Statistics
The Diocese of Fresno consists of 35,239 square miles (91,270 km2) of the southern San Joaquin Valley of California, a portion of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and some valleys in eastern California. The diocese contains Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties. For administrative purposes, the diocese is sub-divided into five deaneries: Fresno City, Fresno (rural), Tulare/Kings, Kern/Inyo, and Merced/Mariposa.
As of 2012, the total population of the diocese was approximately 2.4 million inhabitants, of whom 1,074,944 were registered Catholic. The diocese maintains 86 parishes, several charities, two high schools, numerous elementary schools, a small newspaper, retreat center and several cemeteries.
History
1848 to 1967
Mexico ceded Alta California to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. At that time, the Mexican government complained to the Vatican about the Diocese of California. They didn't want the American bishop to have jurisdiction over parishes in Mexico. In 1849, Pope Pius IX split the Diocese of Californian into American and Mexican dioceses; the American diocese was named the Diocese of Monterey. [3] The first Catholic church in Mariposa, St. Joseph's, was dedicated in 1857. [4]
In 1859, Pius IX renamed the Diocese of Monterey as the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles to recognize the growth of Los Angeles. In 1867, Our Lady of Mercy Church was dedicated in Merced. [4] St. John's Church was established in Fresno in 1882
In 1922, Pope Pius XI divided the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, with the northern section becoming the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno. The Fresno area would remain part of this diocese for the next 45 years. [3] [4]
1967 to present
Pope Paul VI created the new Diocese of Fresno in 1967 by splitting the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno into two dioceses. He named Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Manning of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as the first bishop of Fresno. [3] [4] The estimated Catholic population of the new diocese was 307,000. [4]
During his tenure as bishop, Manning supported the organization of a labor union for Central Valley farm workers, and sought to help wine producers and grape pickers reconcile their differences. [5] After two years in Fresno, Paul VI named Manning archbishop of Los Angeles. To replace him, the pope appointed Bishop Hugh Donohoe from the Diocese of Stockton. [6] In 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed Reverend José de Jesús Madera Uribe as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Fresno to assist Donohoe. [7]
After Donohoe resigned in 1980, Madera Uribe automatically became bishop of Fresno. In 1991, John Paul II named him as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. [8] The next bishop of Fresno was bishop John Steinbock from the Diocese of Santa Rosa, appointed by John Paul II in 1991. [9] In 2003, the Diocese of Fresno was one of only four dioceses in the United States that did not participate in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops review of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Steinbock died in 2010.
In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Armando Xavier Ochoa of the Diocese of El Paso as the next bishop of the Diocese of Fresno. [10] [11] Ochoa retired in 2019.
The current bishop of the Diocese of Fresno is Joseph Vincent Brennan, formerly an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was appointed by Pope Francis in 2019. [12]
The diocese in November 2020 removed Reverend Guadalupe Rios from St. Joseph's Church in Selma and obtained a restraining order barring him from the church and its employees. While serving the order on Rios, the Selma police seized an assault rifle and handgun of his from church property. The church secretary said that Rios threatened her with a gun at one point. [13] Rios' housekeeper sued the diocese in 2021, claiming that he physically and emotionally abused her during a four-year romantic relationship. [14]
St. Charles Borromeo in Visalia opened in 2023 to become the largest Catholic parish church in North America. [15]
Sex abuse
A Firebaugh man in 1998 accused Monsignor Craig Harrison of sexually abusing him when he was 16 to 17 years old from 1992 to 1993. At the time, the boy was living in the rectory at St. Joseph's church; the man claimed that Harrison would inspect his genitals every day. Both the diocese and the Firebaugh Police Department investigated the accusations and found insufficient evidence to back them. In May 2019, after receiving complaints from three other men about Harrison, the diocese reopened the investigation and suspended Harrison from ministry. [16] Harrison in February 2021 requested a dispensation from the Vatican to leave the priesthood. [17] This action occurred a week before the Vatican was planning a church trial on accusations from seven alleged victims. [18] Harrison sued the diocese that same year, claiming defamation of character. The lawsuit was dismissed in May 2021, then Harrison appealed the verdict. The diocese reached a settlement with him in July 2022. [19]
In March 2002, a 16 year old girl from Hanford accused Reverend Miguel Torres of raping her three times. The girl was a part time employee at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. [20] Flores denied the charges. At trial in August 2002, a jury acquitted Flores of forcible rape, three counts of statutory rape, dissuading a witness and criminal threat charges. [21] The diocese returned Flores to ministry. However, in March 2019, the diocese suspended Flores again, pending review of the 2002 case [22] In February 2020, the woman who accused Flores of rape in 2002 sued the diocese. [23]
Reverend Robert Gamel of Los Banos was arrested in June 2015 for possession of a sexually explicit photo of a teenage boy. [24] He had been removed from ministry in 2014. Gamel pleaded no contest in March 2016 to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to four years probation and 11 months in jail. [25] [26]
In February 2019, Bishop Ochoa announced an outside investigation of the records of Diocese of Fresno for all allegations of sexual abuse against clerics since 1922, with a report to be issued to the public after the investigation had concluded. [27] In 2021, the diocese released a list of priests who had been "credibly accused" of abuse. [28]
In May 2024, the diocese announced that they were preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by August 2024, claiming that it was now facing over 150 sex abuse lawsuits from victims. [29]
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Gerald Eugene Wilkerson is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from 1997 to 2015 and as apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Monterey for six months in 2018 and 2019.
Armando Xavier Ochoa is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Fresno in California, bishop of the Diocese of El Paso in Texas and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California.
Tod David Brown was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Boise in Idaho from 1989 to 1998 and as bishop of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California from 1998 to 2012.
John Thomas Steinbock was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fresno in California from 1991 until his death in 2010.
Merlin Joseph Guilfoyle was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Stockton from 1969 to 1979. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco from 1950 to 1969.
José de Jesús Madera Uribe MSpS was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA from 1991 to 2004. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Fresno in California from 1980 to 1991.
Myron Joseph Cotta is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Stockton in California by Pope Francis on January 23, 2018. His installation mass was celebrated on March 15, 2018, at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Modesto, California. Cotta previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento in California from 2014 to 2018.
Alejandro Dumbrigue Aclan is a Philippine-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California since 2019.
United States 
