Archdiocese of Seattle Archidiœcesis Seattlensis | |
|---|---|
| Catholic | |
 St. James Cathedral, the mother church of the archdiocese | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  United States |
| Territory | Western Washington |
| Episcopal conference | United States Conference of Catholic Bishops |
| Ecclesiastical region | XII |
| Ecclesiastical province | Seattle |
| Coordinates | 47°36′23″N122°19′32″W / 47.60639°N 122.32556°W /47.60639; -122.32556 |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 64,269 km2 (24,814 sq mi)[a] |
Population
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| Parishes | 143[a] |
| Schools | 72[2] |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin |
| Rite | Roman |
| Established |
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| Cathedral | St. James Cathedral |
| Patron saint | James the Greater[3] |
| Secular priests | 115[a] |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | Paul D. Etienne |
| Auxiliary Bishops | |
| Vicar General | Very Rev. Gary F. Lazzeroni |
| Judicial Vicar | Very Reverend Anthony Bawyn, JCD |
| Bishops emeritus | |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| archseattle | |
TheArchdiocese of Seattle (Latin:Archidiœcesis Seattlensis) is an archdiocese of theCatholic Church inwestern Washington State in the United States. The diocese was known as theDiocese of Nesqually from 1850 to 1907. The mother church of the archdiocese is St. James Cathedral in Seattle. Itsarchbishop isPaul D. Etienne. The archdiocese succeeded to the Diocese of Nesqually headquartered inVancouver, Washington, established in 1850 as asuffragan diocese of theArchdiocese of Oregon City. The diocese was elevated to metropolitan archdiocesan status in 1951.
The Archdiocese of Seattle encompasses 144 parishes west of theCascade Range. It is themetropolitan archdiocese of twosuffragan dioceses:
As of 2022, the archdiocese reported that it served approximately served 899,000 Catholics in 143 parishes with 191 diocesan priests, 79 religious priests, 113permanent deacons, 92 male religious and 234 female religious.[1]
The archdiocese has eleven hospitals, two health care centers, nineteen homes for the elderly, three day care centers, ten specialized homes, and 111 centers for social services.
The Catholic presence in what was thenOregon Country dates to the arrival in the 1830s ofmissionary priestsFrançois Blanchet andModeste Demers from the British colony ofLower Canada.
In 1843, the Vatican established theVicariate Apostolic of the Oregon Territory and named François Blanchet as its vicar apostolic.[4] In 1846,Pope Gregory XVI divided the vicariate into three dioceses:
That same year, Gregory XVI namedAugustin-Magloire Blanchet, the brother of François Blanchet, as the bishop of Walla Walla. According to contemporary accounts, Augustin-Magloire Blanchet was unhappy to discover that Walla Walla was no more than a trading post. He immediately ran into conflict with theOblate order priests in the diocese who were performing missionary work. They refused Blanchet's efforts to assign them to parishes. Blanchet also tried to claim an Oblate mission property for the diocese that the Oblates had received from a Native American tribe.[5]
In November 1847, conflicts between Protestant missionaries and the Cayuse escalated into violence. Several tribesmen murdered ten Americans, including two Protestant missionaries, near Walla Walla in what was termed theWhitman massacre (Whitman was the leader of the missionaries).[6] Despite attempts by the Cayuse tribe to defuse the conflict, American settlers raised militias to punish them for the killings. Local Protestants accused the Catholic clergy of being in league with the Cayuse. This animosity, the warfare between theU.S. Army and the Cayuse and the failure of the diocese to grow prompted the Vatican to move Blanchet to safety inSt. Paul in theWillamette Valley of Oregon.[7][5]
On May 31, 1850,Pope Pius IX officially suppressed the defunct Diocese of Walla Walla and erected the Diocese of Nesqually in its place.[1]The pope appointed Augustin Blanchet as bishop of the new diocese. In January 1851, Blanchet dedicatedSt. James Church nearFort Vancouver as the cathedral for the diocese.
In 1868,Francis X. Prefontaine requested Blanchet's permission to build a church nearPioneer Square inSeattle to support the city's first Catholicparish, Our Lady of Good Help.[8] Blanchet gave Prefontaine permission to build a church there, on the condition that Prefontaine raise all the money for it. Prefontaine in 1869 opened Seattle's first Catholic church.[9][10]
After Blanchet retired in 1879,Egidius Junger succeeded him.[11] The diocese experienced considerable growth under Junger's administration, including an increase in the number of priests and parishes and an increase in the number of nuns from 60 to 286. St. Leo the Great, established in 1879, was the first Catholic Church inTacoma.[12] Junger built a large cathedral in Vancouver in 1888. The $50,000 debt incurred by the project became a burden for the diocese.[13]
In 1891, the Jesuits opened a parish school for boys at Immaculate Conception Parish. It became Seattle College in 1898. Today it isSeattle University.[14]Our Lady of Hope, the first Catholic church inEverett, was dedicated in 1892.[15] Junger died in 1895.
Edward O'Dea replaced Junger in 1896. When he took office, O'Dea was confronted with financial difficulties, including a $25,000 debt for the construction of the cathedral.[16]
In 1903, O'Dea petitioned the Vatican to move theepiscopal see from Vancouver to Seattle, due to the increased population and economy of Seattle. He began construction on a new cathedral in Seattle in 1905. In 1907, the Vatican suppressed the Diocese of Nesqually and erected the Diocese of Seattle, with O'Dea as its first bishop.[1]He dedicatedSt. James Cathedral in Seattle that same year. In 1913, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Spokane, taking its territory from the Diocese of Seattle.[1] O'Dea guided the diocese throughWorld War I and theanti-Catholic sentiment engendered by Initiative 49, aKu Klux Klan-sponsored effort in Washington State to outlawparochial schools.[17] His final accomplishment was the establishment ofSt. Edward Seminary in Kenmore in 1930.[17] O'Dea died in 1932.[1]
The second bishop of Seattle wasGerald Shaughnessy.[18] Shaughnessy took office in 1933 kept the diocese financially stable during theGreat Depression. He encouraged the formation of Serra International and served as its firstchaplain.[19] He also supported theSt. Vincent de Paul Society andCatholic Charities chapters in the diocese.[20] In 1948,Pope Pius XII appointed Auxiliary BishopThomas Connolly from theArchdiocese of San Francisco ascoadjutor bishop to assist Shaughnessy, who had not fully recovered from astroke three years earlier.[21] When Shaughnessy died in 1950, Connolly automatically succeeded him as bishop of Seattle.
Pius XII elevated the Diocese of Seattle to the Archdiocese of Seattle on June 23, 1951, while taking some of its territory to erect the Diocese of Yakima. The pope named Connolly as the first archbishop of Seattle.[22] During his tenure, Connolly became known as a "brick and mortar bishop" for his construction of hundreds of Catholic facilities to accommodate thepost-World War II population growth in the archdiocese.[23] He renovatedSt. James Cathedral; established 43 new parishes; and supervised construction of over 350 churches, schools, rectories, convents, parish halls, and religious education centers.[24][23] Connolly was an outspoken supporter of theAmerican civil rights movement and ecumenism.[23] When Connolly retired in 1975,Pope Paul VI appointed BishopRaymond Hunthausen from theDiocese of Helena as his successor.[25]
By 1983, the Vatican was allegedly receiving complaints that Hunthausen was deviating from Catholic doctrine on matters such as the providing ofartificial contraception in Catholic hospitals and the church's policies on gay and divorced Catholics. CardinalJoseph Ratzinger, prefect of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, investigated Hunthausen. Ratzinger appointed ArchbishopJames Hickey of theDiocese of Washington asapostolic visitor to conduct the investigation. After meeting with Hunthausen and examining archdiocesan policies, Hickey concluded that Hunthausen had exercised "weak doctrinal leadership" in a number of areas. These included allowing children to receive the sacrament ofcommunion without first having received the sacrament ofpenance.[26]
In response to Hickey's investigation, John Paul II namedDonald Wuerl in January 1986 as an auxiliary bishop in Seattle. In May 1986, Hunthausen and Wuerl found themselves in opposition on proposed state legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis ofsexual orientation in employment.[27] At that point, Hunthausen learned for the first time that Wuerl had been given authority over him on many issues.[28] Hunthausen publicly revealed the Vatican's actions in September 1986, calling the arrangement unworkable.[29] While some chancery officials expressed support for Wuerl, some questioned his role and saw little impact on the archdiocese a year after his appointment.[27] In November 1986, Hunthausen took his grievances to the meeting of theUS Conference of Catholic Bishops, which sided in his favor.[30]
In February 1987, after appointing a commission to study the controversy in Seattle, John Paul II met with Hunthausen in Rome.[30] In 1987, BishopThomas Murphy of theDiocese of Great Falls-Billings was madecoadjutor archbishop in Seattle to assist Hunthausen.[31] In March 1988, John Paul II named Wuerl as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.[32] When Hunthausen retired in 1991, Murphy replaced him as archbishop of Seattle[33]
Murphy oversaw an extensive renovation ofSt. James Cathedral, completed in 1994. Under Murphy's administration the archdiocese saw an increase in registered Catholics, and an increase in outreach and ministries for women, various ethnic groups, andLGBT individuals.[34]
In 1992, Murphy opened Elizabeth House in Seattle, which provided medical care and job training for pregnant teens.[34]For small Washington towns that were suffering from cutbacks in thetimber industry, Murphy provided $500,000 to assist in starting small businesses. To help offset the declining numbers of priests, he provided financial support to aSeattle University program to train lay people in assist in some parish duties. Murphy died in 1997.
To replace Murphy, John Paul II named BishopAlexander Brunett of Helena as archbishop of Seattle in 1997.[35] Despite the economic recession, annual contributions from Catholics in Western Washington doubled during Brunett's tenure as archbishop, providing funding for the construction ofSt. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic High School, which opened in 2009 inVancouver andPope John Paul II High School, which opened in 2010 inLacey.[36] Brunett also helped launch the Fulcrum Foundation, which provides scholarships to poor families to send their children toCatholic schools and oversaw the $7 million purchase, renovation and expansion of the Palisades Retreat Center inFederal Way.[36] Brunett retired in 2009.
The next archbishop of Seattle was BishopJ. Peter Sartain from theDiocese of Joliet, named byPope Benedict XVI in 2010. In June 2019, Sartain installed ArchbishopPaul D. Etienne of theArchdiocese of Anchorage as coadjutor archbishop to assist him.[37] In August 2019, Sartain ordered the demolition of Holy Rosary Church inTacoma.[38][39] The church had become structurally unsound, and its estimated cost for repair was $18 million. Sartain retired in September 2019.
When Sartain retired, Etienne automatically became archbishop of Seattle.[40][41]On taking office, Etienne announced that he would not reside in Connolly House, the mansion for the archbishop of Seattle, suggesting it be sold to provide money to help the poor.[42] In February 2024, the archdiocese announced a plan to consolidate its 136 parishes into 60 parish families.[43] As of 2024, Etienne is the archbishop of Seattle.
In May 1988, Paul Conn from Queen of Angels Parish inPort Angeles pleaded guilty to molesting six altar boys at the church.[44] He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.[45] Immediately removed from ministry after his arrest, Conn waslaicized in 2005.[46] In a letter read at mass in June 1988, Archbishop Hunthausen revealed the archdiocese had received allegations against McGreal for the previous 20 years and that he had been under treatment for the last ten years.[47] McGreal victimized at least 40 children. He was laicized in 2005.[48]
The archdiocese in 2006 settled for over $1 million a lawsuit brought by two brothers who claimed to have been sexually molested by James Cornelius during the 1970s. Cornelius had been removed from public ministry in 2002 after the brothers made their accusations to the archdiocese. Once the allegations became public, ten more individuals made allegations against Cornelius to the archdiocese.[49] Cornelius was laicized in 2004.[50]
In 2016, the archdiocese released a list of 77 priests, nuns and religious men with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.[51] The archdiocese in 2018 paid a $7 million settlement to six men who had accused six priests, including Conn and McGreal, of sexually abusing them when they were minors during the 1970s and 1980s.[52]
By August 2022, the archdiocese had settled five sexual abuse lawsuits over the previous six months. The total settlement amount was approximately $2.3 million for all five plaintiffs. One female plaintiff was abused by a school employee around 1980.[53] One plaintiff was a victim of Conn, another was victimized during the 1970s by David Pearson, a volunteer at St. Joseph Parish inIssaquah.[54]
In May 2024, Attorney GeneralBob Ferguson of Washington State sued the archdiocese. Ferguson's contention was that the archdiocese had refused to cooperate in the state investigation into the use of charitable funds to cover up allegations of sexual abuse by clerics.[55] ArchbishopPaul Etienne responded by denying the allegation of non-cooperation. He spoke of the archdiocese's success in safeguarding against child sex abuse since the scandals of the 2000s and expressed a commitment to helping victims heal and abusers be held accountable.[56]
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As of 2025, the Archdiocese of Seattle had 72 schools, serving over 19,800 students.[2] The diocese also has two universities.
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Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Seattle | |
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