Country United States Metropolitan Fresno, California Denomination Catholic Church Phone +1 559-488-7400 | Ecclesiastical province Los Angeles Population
- Catholics 581,000 (39%) Bishop Armando Xavier Ochoa Patron saint Thérèse of Lisieux | |
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Territory Counties of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mariposa, and Tulare Address 1550 N Fresno St, Fresno, CA 93703, USA Cathedral Saint John the Baptist Cathedral Similar St John's Cathedral Catholic, St Anthony's of Padua, St Therese Catholic Church, St Mary's Catholic Church, Our Lady of Victory Church Profiles | ||
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is a particular church of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in the western region (XI) of the United States, in the State of California. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Geographically, the diocese consists of 35,239 square miles (91,270 km2) of the Southern San Joaquin Valley of California, a portion of the Sierra Nevada and some eastern valleys. The diocese consists of all of the Counties of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare. The total population of the diocesan region is about 2.4 million inhabitants, of whom 1,074,944 are registered Catholic as of 2012. For administrative purposes the diocese is sub-divided into five deaneries: Fresno City, Fresno (rural), Tulare/Kings, Kern/Inyo, and Merced/Mariposa.
Contents
History
The see was created in 1967 by splitting the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno into two sees. Historically the area of the current diocese belonged to the Dioceses of Guadalajara, Durango, Sonora, Californias, Monterey, Monterey-Los Angeles, and lastly Monterey-Fresno. Timothy Manning (first Bishop of Fresno) and Roger Mahony (Auxiliary Bishop) have both served in the diocese.
The most recent ordinary, John Thomas Steinbock, was appointed the fourth Bishop of Fresno on October 15, 1991, taking over from Apostolic Administrator Most Rev. Norman McFarland, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. He served in that position until his death from lung cancer on December 5, 2010. Since 1922 the diocesan see has been in the City of Fresno with the cathedra remaining at St. John's Cathedral (which also served as the seat of the former Diocese of Monterey-Fresno). The diocese maintains 86 parishes, several charities, two high schools, numerous elementary schools, a small newspaper, television station (KNXT), retreat center and several cemeteries.
In 2003, the Diocese of Fresno was one of only four Latin Church 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.
Bishops of the Diocese of Fresno
The list of bishops and their years of service:
- Timothy Manning (1967–1969)
- Hugh Aloysius Donohoe (1969–1980)
- José de Jesús Madera Uribe (1980–1991)
- John Thomas Steinbock (1991–2010)
- Armando Xavier Ochoa (2011–Present)