Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock

Diocese of Little Rock
Dioecesis Petriculana
The coat of arms of the Diocese of Little Rock
Location
Country  United States
Territory Arkansas
Ecclesiastical province Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
Population
- Catholics
122,842 (4.1%)
Information
Denomination Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established 28 November 1843
Cathedral Cathedral of St. Andrew
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Anthony Taylor
Bishop of Little Rock
Metropolitan Archbishop

Paul Stagg Coakley

Archbishop of Oklahoma City
Map
Website
dolr.org
Cathedral of Saint Andrew, Little Rock

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock (Latin: Dioecesis Petriculana) is a Roman Catholic diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of Oklahoma City located in the US state of Arkansas. It was established on November 28, 1843. The seat of the diocese is the Cathedral of St. Andrew.

Bishops

The following are lists of ordinaries and their years of service:

Bishops of Little Rock

  1. Andrew Byrne (1843-1862)
  2. Edward Fitzgerald (1866-1907)
  3. John Baptist Morris (1907-1946)
  4. Albert Lewis Fletcher (1946-1972)
  5. Andrew Joseph McDonald (1972-2000)
  6. J. Peter Sartain (2000-2006), appointed Bishop of Joliet in Illinois and later Archbishop of Seattle
  7. Anthony Taylor (2008-present)

Auxiliary Bishop

Schools

In 2013 there were 6,913 students in Catholic schools in Arkansas. In the 1960s there were 11,500 students in Arkansas Catholic schools; this was the peak enrollment.[1] During that decade, ten of the Catholic schools in Arkansas were for black people. None of those schools remained open by 2013.[2]

High schools and schools with high school sections:

Grade schools include:

Defunct schools

Schools with high school sections:

  • St. Joseph Catholic School – Pine Bluff – Grades 5–12, opened in 1993,[3] closed in 2013[4]
  • St. Peter's Catholic School – Grades Preschool through 6 – The first school in Arkansas for black children to be established,[5] was established in 1889 by St. Joseph Church Pastor Monsignor John Michael "J.M." Lucey as the Colored Industrial Institute and in 1897 became St. Peter Academy a.k.a. St. Peter High School. It closed in 1975, and reopened as an elementary school operated by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1985. It closed permanently in 2012. It was the last Catholic school established for black students in the State of Arkansas.[2]
  • St. Bartholomew High School – Little Rock – A majority black school, it closed in 1964[2]

Schools without high school sections:

  • St. Raphael School – Springdale – Closed in 2013[1]
  • Immaculate Conception School – Blytheville – Closed in 2007[1]
  • Our Lady of Good Counsel School – Little Rock – Closed in 2006[1]
  • Holy Redeemer School – El Dorado – Closed in 2005[1]
  • St. Augustine School – North Little Rock – A majority black school, it closed in 1976[2]
  • St. Bartholomew School – Little Rock – A majority black school, it closed in 1974[2]
  • St. John the Baptist School – Fort Smith – A majority black school, it closed in 1968[2]
  • St. Gabriel School – Hot Springs – A majority black school, it closed in 1968[2]
  • Good Shepherd School – Conway – A majority black school, it closed in 1965[2]
  • St. Cyprian School – Helena – A majority black school, it closed in 1963[2]
  • St. Raphael School – Pine Bluff – A majority black school, it closed in 1960[2]

Excommunications

On September 28, 2007, Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert, the diocese administrator (per the July 11 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) stated that 6 Arkansas nuns were excommunicated for heresy (the first in the diocese's 165-year history). They refused to recant the doctrines of the Community of the Lady of All Nations (Army of Mary). The 6 nuns are members of the Good Shepherd Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs. Sister Mary Theresa Dionne, 82, one of the 6, said they will still live at the convent property, which they own. The sect believed that its 86-year-old founder, Marie Paule Giguere, is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.[6]

Reports of sex abuse

On September 10, 2018, the Diocese of Little Rock released a "preliminary" list of eight priests who served in the Diocese and who were "credibly accused" of engaging in sex abuse of minors.[7][8] In a written statement, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor acknowledged the history of abuse in the Diocese and issued an apology.[7][9] The list also contained the names of four additional predator priests who were transferred to the Diocese of Little Rock to avoid scrutiny in other Dioceses where they were suspected to have molested children.[7][9] One of the priests on the list, Paul Haas, had no known reports of sex abuse when he served in the Diocese of Little Rock, but had multiple reports when he served in the Diocese of Nashville in Tennessee.[7] Anthony McCay, who was ordained in 1960, had 10 victims in other states before he was transferred to the Diocese of Little Rock in 1991, where no claims of abuse were reported against him.[7]

Most on the list, including Hass and McCay, are deceased.[7] Most also began serving the Diocese of Little Rock before the 1980s.[7] Donald Althoff, who was ordained in 1982 and later removed from ministry in 1995 following a three year leave of absence,[7] was also the only priest on this list who was not ordained before the 1980s as well.[7] Francis Zimmer, who was ordained in Texas in 1932, was transferred to the Diocese of Little Rock in 1960, despite previous reports that he had molested three minors while serving the Catholic church in Texas.[7] The earliest priest on the list who committed abuse in the Diocese of Little Rock, Edward Mooney, was ordained in 1949 and wasn't laicized until 1974.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hargett, Malea (2013-03-28). "Despite 'year of grace,' St. Joseph School will close". Arkansas Catholic. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hargett, Malea (2012-05-12). "State's last black Catholic school to close". Arkansas Catholic. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  3. ↑ SJCHS. "SJC: History & Heritage". Archived from the original on 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  4. ↑ Hebda, Dwain (2013-05-16). "The last class graduates from St. Joseph in Pine Bluff". Arkansas Catholic. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  5. ↑ "Pine Bluff Catholic school to Close". KATV. 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  6. ↑ "6 Arkansas nuns in sect excommunicated for heresy". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. September 27, 2007. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Clergy Disclosure List - DOLR.org". Catholic Diocese of Little Rock.
  8. ↑ "Little Rock Diocese releases list of clergy implicated in sex abuse". 11 September 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Diocese of Little Rock says 12 priests who served in state accused of sexual abuse". 10 September 2018.
  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock Official Site
  •  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Diocese of Little Rock". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Coordinates: 34°44′10″N 92°19′52″W / 34.73611°N 92.33111°W / 34.73611; -92.33111

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