Diocese of Boise Diœcesis Xylopolitana | |
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 Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist | |
 Coat of Arms of the Diocese of Boise | |
| Location | |
| Country |  United States |
| Territory | State of Idaho |
| Ecclesiastical province | Province of Portland |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 84,290 sq mi (218,300 km2) |
Population
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| Parishes | 52 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | August 25, 1893 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist |
| Patron saint | Saint John the Evangelist |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | Peter F. Christensen |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Alexander King Sample |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| catholicidaho.org | |
TheDiocese of Boise (Latin:Diœcesis Xylopolitana) is adiocese of theCatholic Church inIdaho in the United States. Its bishop isPeter F. Christensen, whose seat is theCathedral of St. John the Evangelist inBoise. The diocese is asuffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitanArchdiocese of Portland.
The first Catholics to arrive in present-day Boise wereFrench-Canadian fur trappers in the mid-1700s. After theLouisiana Purchase in 1803, when the area became part of the United States, it fell under the jurisdiction of theDiocese of Baltimore in Maryland.
Over the next 25 years, theNez Perce andFlathead tribes sent four delegations toSt. Louis, Missouri to speak with Catholic officials, attempting to recruit apriest for their communities. In 1840, the Diocese of St. Louis sent ReverendPierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit priest, to minister to the tribes. De Smet celebrated themass in Idaho in July 1840 atHenry's Lake.[1]
ReverendNicholas Point in 1843 constructed theCataldo Mission along theSt. Joe River near present-daySt. Maries. It was the first mission church in Idaho. The Cataldo Mission later moved to its present location on theCoeur d'Alene River. It is the oldest building in Idaho.[1][2] With the establishment by the Vatican in 1846 of the Vicariate Apostolic of Oregon Territory, all of the Idaho area was under this jurisdiction.[3] For the next 19 years, most of the Catholics in Idaho belonged to the Native American tribes.[citation needed]
With the discovery of gold in the Boise Basin in 1862, tens of thousands of miners flooded the area, including large numbers of Irish Catholics.[4] Due to the area's growth, PresidentAbraham Lincoln created theTerritory of Idaho in 1863. That same year, the first church for the European Catholics, St. Joseph's, was built in the booming mining town ofIdaho City.[5]
Pope Pius IX in 1868 erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho and Montana, covering a vast area west of the Northern Rockies. At that time, both the territory and the apostolic vicariate included the current state of Idaho and the western portions ofMontana andWyoming.[1][6] The pope namedLouis Lootens of theArchdiocese of San Francisco as the firstvicar apostolic. When the vicariate was established, the population of Idaho was approximately 20,000, of whom only 1,500 were Catholic.[citation needed]
By the 1870s, the Idaho gold rush had ended, miners were leaving the territory and its towns were drying up. When Lootens' health began to fail, the Vatican allowed him to resign from the vicariate in 1876.[1] The vicariate would be without a bishop for the next eight years.
In 1887,Pope Leo XIII appointedAlphonse Glorieux as the second vicar apostolic of Idaho and Montana. Glorieux designatedBoise as his see city. On August 23, 1893, Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Boise, covering the entire state of Idaho. He appointed Glorieux as its firstbishop. At that time, there were approximately 7,000 registered Catholics in the state. In 1894, theSisters of the Holy Cross opened St. Alphonsus Hospital, the first hospital in Boise.[7]
In 1906, Gladieux laid the cornerstone for theCathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Boise.[8] The opening of large tracts of land to settlement and the arrival of therailroad greatly increased the population of Idaho. The diocese grew dramatically over the following century. Many CatholicBasques from Spain began immigrating to Idaho early in the twentieth century to work in thesheep industry.[1] Glorieux died in 1917.
Succeeding Glorieux as bishop in 1918 wasDaniel Gorman from the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Gorman oversaw large growth within the diocese during his nine years as bishop. The clergy rose by 32 diocesan priests, cathedral construction was completed, and enrollment in parish schools doubled.[9] Gorman dedicated the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist in 1921.[8]
After Gorman died in 1927,Edward Kelly from theDiocese of Baker City succeeded him.[10] Kelly served for 28 years until his death in 1956.[11] The next bishop was Auxiliary BishopJames J. Byrne from theArchdiocese of St. Paul, who transferred to Boise in 1956.
Beginning in the middle of the twentieth century, large numbers of migrant workers fromMexico arrived in the diocese. Some settled permanently in the region, while many others remained migratory and would return toMexico after the harvest. Toward the latter part of the century, the number of immigrants fromMexico and other parts ofLatin America increased dramatically, with the majority of them settling permanently in the southern part of the diocese. People of Latin American heritage now constitute well over half of the Catholics within the diocese.[citation needed]
Byrne became archbishop of Dubuque in 1962.[1] The fifth bishop of Boise,Sylvester W. Treinen from theDiocese of Bismarck, was his successor. He retired in 1988.[1] PopeJohn Paul II then namedTod Brown from theDiocese of Monterey-Fresno as the sixth bishop of Boise in 1989. He became bishop of theDiocese of Orange in 1998.[12] In 1999, Auxiliary BishopMichael P. Driscoll of Orange succeeded him.[13]
After Driscoll retired In 2014, BishopPeter F. Christensen of the Diocese of Superior transferred to Boise.[14] He is the current bishop of Boise.
In 1985, Mel Baltazar was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of lewd conduct with a 15-year-old boy. The priest met the victim when he was serving as achaplain at St. Alphonsus Medical Center. The presiding judge stated that the Catholic Church protected Baltazar while he abused children in previous positions with other dioceses.[15] In 2003, aSan Diego man sued the Diocese of Boise and several other dioceses, claiming that Baltazar sexually abused him in California and other locations for five years during the 1970s.[16]
Deacon Robert Howell was arrested in November 2004 on charges of possessingchild pornography. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March 2005 to 18 months in prison.[17] Some of Howell's former parishioners were angry with the diocese for waiting until March to inform them about Howell.[18]
In September 2018, W. Thomas Faucher pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and possession ofmarijuana.[19]Chatroom conversations obtained by law enforcement revealed Faucher's intent to use marijuana to drug children and operate a child pornography ring that also involved rapes.[20] Faucher had satanic interests and admitted to acts ofblasphemy and desecration.[21] That same year, two individuals reported to the diocese that they had been sexually abused as minors by Faucher. In December 2018, Faucher was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[21] The diocese evicted Faucher from his house while he was in prison, and performed anexorcism on the property before putting it up for sale.[22][23] In 2020, Faucher died in prison.[24][25]
In 2019, the diocese released a list of 15 priests and one deacon with credible accusations of sexual abuse of children.[26]
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William Keith Weigand, appointedBishop of Salt Lake City in 1980 and laterBishop of Sacramento
As of 2022, approximately 200,000 Catholics live within the Diocese of Boise. The diocese is divided into sixdeaneries containing 50 parishes, served by 92 diocesan priests and 31 religious priests.[6]
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As of 2025, the diocese contains four Catholic medical centers:
As of 2025, the Diocese of Boise operates 15 elementary schools and two high schools:[31]
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Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Portland in Oregon | |
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43°36′49″N116°12′12″W / 43.61361°N 116.20333°W /43.61361; -116.20333
