Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia | |
|---|---|
| Catholic | |
 St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  United States |
| Territory | The counties of Oregon west of the Cascade Range. |
| Ecclesiastical province | Province of Portland |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 76,937 km2 (29,706 sq mi) |
Population
|
|
| Parishes | 124 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established |
|
| Cathedral | Saint Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception |
| Patron saint | Immaculate Conception |
| Secular priests | 158 |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | Alexander King Sample |
| Auxiliary Bishops | Peter Leslie Smith |
| Vicar General | Peter Leslie Smith |
| Bishops emeritus | |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| archdpdx.org | |
TheArchdiocese of Portland in Oregon (Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia) is a Latin Churcharchdiocese of theCatholic Church in western Oregon in the United States.
Established in 1846, it was the second Catholic archdiocese established in the United States after theArchdiocese of Baltimore. (TheArchdiocese of New Orleans is older, having been created in 1793 when the city was still Spanish territory, but became an Archdiocese in 1850.) In 2004, duringa sexual abuse scandal, it became the first archdiocese to file forChapter 11 bankruptcy.
The mother church of the archdiocese isSaint Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception inPortland. As of 2023, the archbishop of Portland is Alexander Sample.
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon has the following suffragan dioceses:
As of 2024, the archdiocese served 430,700 Catholics. It had 101 diocesan priests, 129 religious priests, 71 permanent deacons, 343 women religious, and 58 religious brothers. The archdiocese had 124 parishes, 23 missions, one seminary, 41 elementary schools, ten secondary schools, and two Catholic colleges.[2]
When the Americanexpedition of 1810 entered theWillamette Valley of present-day Oregon, it included 13 French-Canadian Catholics. Several of them, including the fur traderÉtienne Lucier, decided to settle there.[3] By 1829, Lucier had established a permanent land claim next to theWillamette Fur Post nearFrench Prairie. At this time, the region was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain.
In 1836, Lucier and 15 other Catholic settlers petitioned Auxiliary BishopNorbert Provencher, head of the church in present-dayManitoba, to send a priest to their settlement. They constructed St. Paul's Church, the oldest church in Oregon, in St. Paul, Oregon, that same year.[4] However, the British-ownedHudson's Bay Company (HBC) which ownedfur trading concessions in the region, objected to Provencher establishing a Catholic mission in theWillamette Valley. To appease the HBC, Provencher agreed to move the mission north of theColumbia River into present-day Washington State. In 1838, he sent the missionary priests ReverendFrançois Norbert Blanchet and ReverendModeste Demers toFort Vancouver in Washington.[4][5]
In 1843, theVatican established theVicariate Apostolic of theOregon Territory, with Blanchet as its firstvicar apostolic.[6] Along with all of Oregon, the vicariate also included present-day Idaho and Montana. The following year, ReverendPierre-Jean DeSmet, along with other priests and a contingent of theSisters of Notre Dame de Namur, arrived inAstoria, Oregon, fromBelgium.[4]
In 1846, after the United States and Great Britain settled their borders in thePacific Northwest, the Vatican elevated the vicariate apostolic to the Archdiocese of Oregon City. The pope designated theDiocese of Walla Walla in Washington State and theDiocese of Vancouver Island in British Columbia as suffragan dioceses.[7] Oregon City became the second American archdiocese, preceded only by theArchdiocese of Baltimore.[5] The pope named Blanchet as the first archbishop of Oregon City.[8]
In 1853, the first Catholic church in Salem,St. Joseph's, was founded.[9] The Vatican erected the Vicariate Apostolic ofIdaho andMontana in 1868, taking those territories from the Archdiocese of Oregon City.[7] In 1870, theCatholic Sentinel was founded as the official newspaper of the archdiocese.
Pope Leo XIII named BishopCharles John Seghers of Vancouver Island ascoadjutor archbishop in Oregon City to assist Blanchet in 1878.[10] When Blanchet retired in 1880, Seghers automatically succeeded him as bishop. In 1884, Seghers successfully petitioned the Vatican to reappoint him as bishop of Vancouver Island so that he could continue missionary work in Alaska.
To replace Seghers in Oregon City, Leo XiII appointed BishopWilliam Gross from theDiocese of Savannah as archbishop in 1885.[11] Gross dedicatedSt. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland in 1885 and founded theSisters of St. Mary of Oregon order in 1886.[12] Gross opened a senior citizens home in 1896 andMount Angel College in Saint Benedict in 1887.St. Boniface Church inSublimity and a minor seminary were constructed in 1889.[13] Gross presided over the Third Provincial Council of Oregon in 1891.[12] He died in 1898.
The next archbishop of Oregon City was BishopAlexander Christie of Vancouver Island, named by Leo XIII in 1899.[14] In 1901, Christie obtained the former campus of Portland University, a Methodist institution. He traded the campus for a couple of archdiocesan properties plus a payment of $1.[15] Christie reopened the school as Columbia University, which is today theUniversity of Portland.[16][17]
In 1903, at Christie's request, the Vatican erected theDiocese of Baker City, covering all of eastern Oregon.[18] The archdiocese opened the Christie Home for Orphaned Girls in 1907 and dedicatedSt. Mary's Church inMount Angel in 1912. TheCatholic Truth Society was established in 1922, and Christie successfully campaigned against an Oregon law that would eliminateparochial schools, which was eventually settled by theSupreme Court inPierce v. Society of Sisters.[19] Following Christie's death in 1926,Pope Pius XI named Auxiliary BishopEdward Howard from the Diocese of Davenport as the fifth archbishop of Oregon City.[20]
On September 26, 1928, the Vatican renamed the Archdiocese of Oregon City as the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon because Portland had grown much larger than Oregon City.[21] To avoid confusion with theDiocese of Portland in Maine, the Vatican added "in Oregon" to the archdiocesan name.[22]
During his tenure as archbishop, Howard created achancery in the cathedralrectory, later transferring it to a separate building.[22] He reorganized theSt. Vincent de Paul andHoly Name Societies, fostered the growth of the local branch ofCatholic Charities, and removed theCatholic Sentinel from private ownership.[22]
In 1931, Howard led a successful campaign to repeal localzoning ordinances that prohibited the building of churches and parochial schools.[22] He convened the Fourth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1932, and held asynod for the clergy in 1935.[22] In 1939, he foundedCentral Catholic High School in Portland.[23] He convened the Fifth Provincial Council of the archdiocese in 1957.[22] Howard retired in 1966 after 38 years as bishop.Pope Paul VI appointed BishopRobert Dwyer from theDiocese of Reno as the second archbishop of Portland in Oregon in 1966. Dwyer retired in 1974 due to poor health.[24] To replace Dwyer, Paul VI named BishopCornelius Power of Yakima as archbishop in 1974.[25]
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During his tenure inPortland, Power formed a five-year plan for the archdiocese and created anendowment fund. He founded the Oregon Catholic Conference and held the first clergy and archdiocesan conventions. He reorganized the local curia,Catholic Charities, and re-establishedCatholic Truth Society of Oregon as theOregon Catholic Press. Power also encouraged ministries toSpanish-speaking andSoutheast Asian residents.[26] He retired in 1986.
Auxiliary BishopWilliam Levada of theArchdiocese of Los Angeles was the next archbishop of Portland in Oregon, named byPope John Paul II in 1986. During his tenure in Portland, Levada helped to revitalize Mount Angel Seminary.[27] He briefly taught at the seminary as well. He also reorganizedCatholic Charities, worked in outreach to theHispanic Catholic community, and renovated St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.[27] Levada became archbishop of San Francisco in 1995.
On January 29, 2013, BishopAlexander Sample was appointed byPope Benedict XVI to be the new Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, succeedingJohn George Vlazny, whose resignation was accepted at the same time.[28]
In 1996 the title of Archbishop of Oregon City was revived as atitular see; since 2009, the titular Archbishop has beenJoseph Augustine Di Noia.
Thearchdiocese's sexual abuse scandal prompted the archbishop to file forChapter 11 reorganization for the archdiocese on July 6, 2004. Portland became the first archdiocese or diocese to file for bankruptcy.[29][30][31] Vlazny described his actions by saying, "This is not an effort to avoid responsibility. It is, in fact, the only way I can assure that other claimants can be offered fair compensation."[30] In February 2009, the Oregon Jesuit Province also filed for bankruptcy as well.[32]
In April 2007, the archdiocese announced a settlement with sexual abuse victims and the bankruptcy court had approved a financial plan of reorganization.[33] The archdiocese paid $71.45 million to 169 victims, averaging $342,000 each; this was the eighth-largest sexual abuse settlement by a Catholic diocese or archdiocese in American history. The bankruptcy filings listed 11 archdiocese priests as perpetrators of sexual abuse.[34]In March 2011, the Oregon Jesuit Province agreed to pay $166.1 million in damages to nearly 500 victims of sexual abuse by Jesuit clergy.[35]
On August 6, 2016, World Spark, a retirement home provider run by Reverend Michael Maslowsky, was forced to surrender documents showing that there had been numerous complaints of sex abuse against vulnerable residents at World Spark's St. Anthony Village elderly home, including some with dementia, between 2009 and 2016.[36] By order, the documents were given to a plaintiff from a lawsuit which began in 2014.[36] On October 1, 2018, it was revealed thatPope Francis had defrocked Maslowsky that summer.[37]
In 2018, Sample acknowledged the history of sex abuse in the archdiocese which he described as an "institutional and spiritual" failure,[38] and issued an apology.[38] At the same time, it was reported that more than 100 sex abuse lawsuits were settled prior to the 2004 bankruptcy.[38] More settlements were issued in August 2019 when the Archdiocese of Portland agreed to pay nearly $4 million to eight men who said they were sexually abused by Reverend Pius Brazaukus in the 1970s and the 1980s.[39][40]
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Francis Norbert Blanchet, appointed Bishop of Oregon City
François Norbert Blanchet (1846–1850), elevated toarchbishop
Peter Leslie Smith (2014–present)
This is a list of Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.[41]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Portland in Oregon | |
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45°31′21″N122°38′12″W / 45.52250°N 122.63667°W /45.52250; -122.63667
