Diocese of Savannah Diœcesis Savannensis | |
|---|---|
 Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  United States |
| Territory | SouthernGeorgia |
| Ecclesiastical province | Atlanta |
| Statistics | |
Population
|
|
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | July 19, 1850 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist |
| Patron saint | John the Baptist |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | Stephen D. Parkes |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Gregory John Hartmayer |
| Bishops emeritus | J. Kevin Boland |
| Map | |
 | |
| Website | |
| diosav.org | |
TheDiocese of Savannah (Latin:Dioecesis Savannensis) is aLatin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of theCatholic Church in southernGeorgia in the United States.[1] The mother church of the diocese isCathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist in Savannah.[1] The patron saint isJohn the Baptist.
The Diocese of Savannah is asuffragan diocese, part of the ecclesiastical province under the metropolitanArchdiocese of Atlanta. As of 2025, the bishop isStephen D. Parkes.
The Diocese of Savannah encompasses the counties ofAppling,Atkinson,Bacon,Baker,Ben Hill,Berrien,Bibb,Bleckley,Brantley,Brooks,Bryan,Bulloch,Burke,Calhoun,Camden,Candler,Charlton,Chatham,Chattahoochee,Clay,Clinch,Coffee,Colquitt,Columbia,Cook,Crawford,Crisp,Decatur,Dodge,Dooly,Dougherty,Early,Echols,Effingham,Emanuel,Evans,Glascock,Glynn,Grady,Harris,Houston,Irwin,Jeff Davis,Jefferson,Jenkins,Johnson,Jones,Lanier,Laurens,Lee,Liberty,Long,Lowndes,Macon,Marion,McIntosh,Miller,Mitchell,Montgomery,Muscogee,Peach,Pierce,Pulaski,Quitman,Randolph,Richmond,Schley,Screven,Seminole,Stewart,Sumter,Talbot,Taliaferro,Tattnall,Taylor,Telfair,Terrell,Thomas,Tift,Toombs,Treutlen,Turner,Twiggs,Ware,Washington,Wayne,Webster,Wheeler,Wilcox,Wilkinson, andWorth in Georgia.
The Diocese of Savannah has more counties within its territory than any other diocese in the United States and covers 37,038 square miles (95,930 km2). 99 priests serve 57 churches and 29 missions.[2]
As of 2025, the diocese contained a total population of 2,950,000 and a Catholic population of 80,000.[2] With only a 3% of the population, it is one of the lowest concentrations of Catholics in the United States.
The present day Diocese of Savannah has undergone name changes over the past 175 years:
Before and during theAmerican Revolutionary War, the Catholics in all of the British colonies in North America were under the jurisdiction of theApostolic Vicariate of the London District in England. However, Catholics were banned from the Georgia colony from its founding in 1733 until 1752, when it became a royal colony.[3]
The first Catholics to arrive in theProvince of Georgia were French refugees from theHaitian Revolution that started in 1791. They established the Congrégation de Saint Jean-Baptiste in Savannah and constructed a wood-frame church, the first Catholic church in the city.[4]
Pope Pius VI erected thePrefecture Apostolic of the United States in 1784, encompassing the entire nation. Five years later, he converted the prefecture into the Diocese of Baltimore.[5] In 1820, Pope Pius VII erected of theDiocese of Charleston, including all of the newState of Georgia. Most Holy Trinity Church, the oldest Catholic church in Georgia, was founded inAugusta in 1810.[3] During the 1800s, Irish Catholic immigrants started swelling the Catholic population of Savannah. Saint Joseph's, the first Catholic parish in Macon, was established in 1841.
Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Savannah on July 19, 1850, from the Diocese of Charleston. The new diocese consisted of Georgia and the state of Florida, minus theFlorida Panhandle region.[1][6] Pius IX appointed MonsignorFrancis Gartland from theDiocese of Philadelphia as the first bishop of the new diocese.
During Gartland's tenure, the Catholic population in the diocese doubled; more priests were added, including recruits fromIreland. He erected three new churches and enlarged theCathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, dedicating it in June 1853.[7] Gartland also established anorphanage and severalCatholic schools.[8] Gartland died ofyellow fever in 1854 while visiting the sick during an epidemic in Savannah. The post of bishop was vacant for the next three years.
On January 9, 1857, Pius IX erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Florida and removed all of Florida from the Diocese of Savannah. At the same time, Pius IX named MonsignorJohn Barry as bishop of Savannah. Barry also had a short tenure as bishop, dying in France in 1859. Pius IX appointed BishopAugustin Vérot, then vicar apostolic of Florida, to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Savannah.
During theAmerican Civil War, Vérot condemned the looting of the Catholic church atAmelia Island, Florida, byUnion Army troops. He personally evacuated severalSisters of Mercy from Jacksonville, Florida, to Savannah through the battle zone in Georgia.[9] After the war, Vérot published a pastoral letter urging Catholics in the diocese to "put away all prejudice ...against their former servants". He also advocated a national coordinator forevangelization among African-Americans, and brought in French sisters from LePuy, France, to work with them.[10]
Pius IX erected the newDiocese of St. Augustine in 1870 and appointed Vérot as its first bishop. He named BishopIgnatius Persico from theRoman Curia as Vérot's replacement in Savannah.
Poor health forced Persico to resign this post in 1873. Pius IX then named ReverendWilliam Gross of the Redemptorist Order in 1873 to become the new bishop of Savannah. During his tenure in Savannah, Gross laid the cornerstone of theCathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in November 1873 and dedicated it in April 1876. In addition to erecting several churches, schools,orphanages, and hospitals, he opened a men's college atMacon, Georgia, introduced theJesuits andBenedictines to the diocese, and established a diocesan newspaper,The Southern Cross, in 1875. In 1885,Pope Leo XIII appointed Gross as archbishop of theArchdiocese of Oregon City.
BishopThomas Becker from theDiocese of Wilmington was appointed bishop of Savannah by Leo XIII in 1886. During his tenure, Becker added an episcopal residence to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which he completed with the building of its spires in 1896.[11] After the cathedral was nearly destroyed by fire in 1898, Becker solicited funds for its rebuilding.[11]
After 13 years in office, Becker died in 1899. Leo XIII replaced him with MonsignorBenjamin Keiley in 1900. During his tenure, Keiley completed the restoration of Cathedral of St. John the Baptist started by Becker; he dedicated the new edifice in October 1900.[12] In other pronouncements, Keiley condemned prejudice and thelynchings of African-Americans.[13] In 1902, Keiley memorializedConfederate States Army veterans from the American Civil War and praised former Confederate PresidentJefferson Davis. Kelley condemned U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt for inviting the African-American educatorBooker T. Washington to theWhite House.[14] Keiley opposed an initiative to set up a seminary for African-Americans in the diocese, saying:
"In America no black man should be ordained. Just as illegitimate sons are declared irregular bycanon law...so blacks can be declared irregular because they are held in such contempt by whites."[15]
In 1903, after a pronouncement byPope Pius X on church music, Keiley prohibited his nuns from leading church choirs. He complained to the Vatican that other dioceses in the United States were lenient on that rule.[16] In 1907, Keiley invited theSociety of Missionaries of Africa to enter the diocese and build churches and schools for African-Americans.[17] After Keiley resigned due to poor health in 1922,Pope Pius XI appointed ReverendMichael Keyes of the Marist Brothers to be the new bishop of Savannah. On July 11, 1934, Keyes asked parishioners in his diocese to sign a pledge from theLegion of Decency to protest "...vile and unwholesome motion pictures."[18] Keyes retired as bishop of Savannah in 1935.
Auxiliary Bishop Gerald O'Hara from theArchdiocese of Philadelphia was appointed bishop of Savannah by Pius XI in 1935. During his tenure, O'Hara built theCathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, dedicated in January 1939.[19] The cathedral was built on the former site ofKu Klux Klan gatherings, and O'Hara even invited Imperial WizardHiram Evans to the dedication.[20] O'Hara once criticized theSavannah Press after the newspaper ran a whimsicalSt. Patrick's Day editorial repeating the old fable crediting Saint Patrick with having granted women the privilege to woo duringleap years.[21] O'Hara was considered a leader in church efforts to improverace relations,[22] launching a seven-point social and racial program in the 1930s, calling for aid toAfrican American children and heightened awareness ofrural issues.[23]
Pius XI renamed the Diocese of Savannah as the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta on January 5, 1937.[6] This action reflected the increased population and rising prominence ofAtlanta.[6] He also designated the Church of Christ the King in Atlanta as the co-cathedral in the second see.[6]
With the increased Catholic population in northern Georgia,Pope Pius XII on July 2, 1956, erected theDiocese of Atlanta. Northern Georgia went into the new diocese and southern Georgia stayed into the newly renamed Diocese of Savannah.[6]
Pope John XXIII appointed Auxiliary BishopThomas J. McDonough of St. Augustine as auxiliary bishop in Savannah in 1957. O'Hara resigned as bishop of Savannah in 1959 to serve full time as a papal diplomat and John XXIII replaced him with McDonough. He signed the "Pentecost Statement" of the bishops of the Atlanta Province, condemningracial discrimination as contrary to Christian principles.[24]
On February 10, 1962,Pope John XXIII elevated the Diocese of Atlanta to the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The Diocese of Savannah was removed from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and designated a suffragan of the new archdiocese.[6]
In 1967, Pope Paul VI appoint McDonough as archbishop of theArchdiocese of Louisville and named MonsignorGerard Frey from theArchdiocese of New Orleans as his successor in Savannah. During his tenure, Frey launched the Social Apostolate, a social service agency designed "to put people in the pews in touch with the poor." He also encouraged every church in the diocese to establish aparish council. After appointing Frey as bishop of theDiocese of Lafayette in Louisiana in 1972, Paul VI named ReverendRaymond W. Lessard from the Diocese of Fargo to replace him in Savannah. Lessard once served as liaison between Catholic bishops and marriedEpiscopalian clergy seeking Catholic ordination.[25] He once describedracism as "the paramount social problem affecting our area".[26]
Pope John Paul II appointed ReverendJ. Kevin Boland as bishop of Savannah in 1995. After serving in the diocese for 15 years, Boland retired in 2010. To replace him,Pope Benedict XVI named ReverendGregory Hartmayer of theConventual Franciscans to be the new bishop of Savannah. In 2020, Pope Francis appointed Hartmayer as archbishop of Atlanta. Francis appointed ReverendStephen D. Parkes from theDiocese of Orlando as bishop of Savannah.
Stephen Parkes is the current serving bishop. In May 2022, Parkes contacted the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments requesting permission to continue theTraditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Savannah. This dispensation was granted for the period of one year, and in September 2023, the Dicastery extended this dispensation for an additional two years.[27][28]
Bishop Parkes continues to support the Sainthood cause of theGeorgia Martyrs, a process begun by BishopRaymond W. Lessard in 1984. On January 27, 2025, the Holy See confirmed their deaths as acts of martyrdom "in hatred of the faith", officially granting them the title ofVenerable, and authorizing theirbeatification, one of the major steps toward sainthood.
In 2004, the Diocese of Savannah reported that it had paid a total of $50,000 to 12 people who accused six diocesan priests of sexually abusing them.[29] One of these priests, Reverend Wayland Brown, had been sentenced in 2003 to ten years in prison in Maryland for molesting two boys there. He was laicized by the Vatican in 2004.[29]
In 2009, the diocese agreed to a $4.24 million lawsuit settlement with Allan Ranta, another victim of sexual abuse by Brown. Bishop Boland released this statement:
I am sorry for all the pain and suffering experienced by Mr. Ranta and my prayers go out not only to him, but to all victims of child sexual abuse that each may find the healing they seek.[30]
The diocese reached a settlement in 2016 of $4.5 million to a man who accused Brown of sexually abusing him in the 1980s. Authorities could not criminally charge Brown with this offense due to the Georgiastatute of limitations.[31] On November 12, 2018, Bishop Hartmayer released a list of 16 clergy from the diocese with credible accusations ofsexual abuse of minors.[32] When Georgia Attorney GeneralChristopher M. Carr announced an investigation in May 2019 into sexual abuse claims against Catholic clergy in Georgia, Hartmayer pledged the full support of the diocese.[33]
Brown pleaded guilty in South Carolina in 2018 to six counts ofcriminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree and three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first degree. His victims were two boys Allan Ranta and Chris Templeton. Brown, then at St. James Catholic Church in Savannah, first raped Ranta in 1978 when the boy was nine years old; the abuse lasted for a year. After unrelated abuse allegations surfaced, the diocese sent Brown for treatment, then returned him to St. James. In 1987, Brown raped Templeton 50 times.
Brown and the victims were residing in Georgia at the time, which did not allow prosecution for sex crimes that far in the past. However, since Brown had driven the boys to South Carolina several times and committed crimes there, he could be prosecuted under South Carolina law. Brown was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[34][35] He died in prison in 2019.[36]
In 2020, Bishop Parkes and the diocese were sued by William Fred Baker Jr. Baker claimed that the diocese knew that Brown was molesting him in 1987 and 1988 when he was a 10-year-old attending St. James Catholic School.[37]
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia in March 2023 released a report that identified seven diocesan priests and eight religious order priests in the diocese as having credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.[38]
The diocese was founded in 1850 as the Diocese of Savannah, covering all of Georgia and part of Florida. From 1937 to 1956, it was the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. In 1956, it became the Diocese of Savannah again when northern Georgia was split off into the Diocese of Atlanta.
As of 2020, the Diocese of Atlanta had 102 priests and members of religious orders.[39]
As of 2024, the Diocese of Savannah has five high schools and 11 elementary schools.[39] The high schools include:
Ecclesiastical Province of Atlanta | |
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32°04′22″N81°05′11″W / 32.07278°N 81.08639°W /32.07278; -81.08639
