Country United States Metropolitan Chicago Bishop Robert Daniel Conlon | Ecclesiastical province Chicago Parishes 120 Patron saint Francis Xavier | |
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Area 4,218 sq mi (10,920 km) Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2010)
1,904,000
655,051 (34.4%) Address Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail, 16555 Weber Rd, Crest Hill, IL 60403, USA Cathedral Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus Hours Closed now Tuesday8AM–4:30PMWednesday8AM–4:30PMThursday8AM–4:30PMFriday8AM–1PMSaturdayClosedSundayClosedMonday8AM–4:30PMSuggest an edit Profiles | ||
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois (Latin: Dioecesis Joliettensis in Illinois) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. It comprises the City of Joliet in Illinois and its surrounding counties: DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, Kendall and Will. It is governed by a bishop, who is a suffragan of the Archbishop of Chicago. The mother church is the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus.
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On May 17, 2011, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, announced that Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, 62, until then Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio (part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Cincinnati, Ohio), as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet (part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Chicago, Illinois), succeeding Archbishop James Peter Sartain, who became archbishop of Seattle, Washington in September 2010.
History
In 1808, the area that is now known as Joliet was governed by the Diocese of Bardstown, present-day Archdiocese of Louisville in Kentucky. In 1824, administration of the area was transferred to the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in Missouri. Another period of reorganization for the expanding American Catholic community led to the transfer of administration over Joliet to the now-defunct Diocese of Vincennes, present-day Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In 1836, with the construction of the I&M canal, Irish immigrants swarmed into the area. Fr. John Plunkett was assigned to provide to the spiritual needs of the workers. He established St. Patrick Church, which is still operating, as the first church in the Joliet area.
With the industrialization of Illinois and the emergence of Chicago as an important center of commerce for the nation, the new churches and missions in the Joliet area flourished. Its congregants were mostly newly arrived immigrant laborers from Europe and several generations of local farmers.
In 1948, Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of Joliet to meet the demands of the exponential growth of Catholicism in the region, resulting from local post-World War II housing developments and commercial modernization, and named Reverend Martin McNamara as the first bishop. Bishop McNamara selected St. Raymond's church as the cathedral, however by 1950, the 540-seat church proved inadequate and he began planning a new facility. The Bishop consecrated the new Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus on May 26, 1955.