Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre

Diocese of Rockville Centre Dioecesis Petropolitana in Insula Longa
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Long Island, New York
Ecclesiastical province	New York
Statistics
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2014) 2,851,977 1,531,445[1] (53.7%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	April 6, 1957
Cathedral	St. Agnes Cathedral
Patron saint	Saint Agnes
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	John Barres
Metropolitan Archbishop	Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Auxiliary Bishops	Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski Robert John Brennan Robert Joseph Coyle Richard Garth Henning
Emeritus Bishops	William Murphy
Map
Website
drvc.org

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre (Latin: Dioecesis Petropolitana in Insula Longa) comprises the territory of Nassau and Suffolk counties (regionally known as Long Island) in New York state, USA; although Fishers Island is part of Suffolk County, it 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. It is the sixth-largest Catholic diocese in the United States, currently serving approximately 1.5 million people in 134 parishes.^[2] The diocese is named for the village where its cathedral, St. Agnes Cathedral, is located, Rockville Centre in Nassau County. The fifth and current bishop is John Barres.^[3]

History

Most Reverend Walter P. Kellenberg served as first bishop of the diocese from 1957-1976. Kellenberg was followed by Bishop John McGann, who retired in 2000 and died in 2002. The diocese was led briefly by Bishop James T. McHugh, who died of cancer on December 10, 2000.

The Most Reverend William Murphy served as the diocese's fourth bishop from 2001 to 2017. Murphy arrived in Long Island from his native Archdiocese of Boston, where he served as the archdiocese's vicar general. He was succeeded by John Barres on January 31, 2017.

Bishops

Arms

Coat of arms of Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre

Notes Arms was designed and adopted when the diocese was erected Adopted 1957 Escutcheon The arms of the Diocese of Rockville Centre is divided per saltire and is bordered by a bordure composed of wavy lines. The colors of the field within the bordure are gold and blue. Three of the four partitions formed by the saltire are emblazoned with a scallop shell. The top partition is filled with a lamb’s head. A black roundel in the center of the shield with the three stones or rocks is present. Symbolism The arms is based on the history of Long Island and the etymology of the name Rockville Centre. The colors of the field within the bordure, gold and blue, appears on the coat of arms of King William III of the House of Nassau and on the arms which the county of Suffolk in England has used at times, these arms being those of Ipswich. Although there are more than 12 names for Long Island, the name generally preferred by the Indians of the mainland was Seawanhacky or “Island of Shells.” The scallop shell is also truly heraldic, and a symbol which is often used to signify the flowing of water in the Sacrament of Baptism. The wavy silver bordure is the heraldic equivalent of water and surrounding, as it does, the other charges, signifies the insular nature of the diocese. The lamb’s head is the symbol of St. Agnes, virgin and martyr, the titular of the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. St. Agnes has been represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence, since the Middle Ages. The black roundel in the center of the shield with the three stones or rocks affords canting arms for Rockville Centre. The black roundel is in the exact center of the shield. The three rocks or stones are derived from the coat of arms of Pope Pius XII, who established the new Diocese of Rockville Centre in April, 1957. The roundel is tinctured in black to represent the seventeenth century name of Brooklyn, from the diocese from which the See of Rockville Centre was separated. The black tincture represents the marshes, which recalled to the Dutch their homeland in Breuckelen in the Province of Utrecht. The Dutch who first settled Brooklyn called it “Breuck-Landt’” meaning “broken land,’ or “marshland,” inasmuch as a great deal of the land was broken up by patches of water.

Media

Seminary

St. Agnes Cathedral

• Seminary of the Immaculate Conception

High schools

Elementary schools

Province of New York

See: List of the Catholic bishops of the United States

References

External links

• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre Official Site

Coordinates: 40°39′48″N 73°38′13″W / 40.66333°N 73.63694°W / 40.66333; -73.63694