Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the southern United States and comprises the entire state of South Carolina,^[1] with Charleston as its see city. Currently, the diocese consists of 92 parishes and 24 missions throughout the state.^[2] It is led by the Most Rev. Robert Guglielmone, the Thirteenth Bishop of Charleston, who serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in the City of Charleston.^[3] Its first bishop was John England. Charleston is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.^[4]

The diocese was created from territories of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.^[1] The Diocese of Charleston was canonically erected on July 11, 1820 by Pope Pius VII making it the seventh oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. At that time, the diocese comprised the states of Georgia, North Carolina, & South Carolina

Cathedral

Consecrated on April 6, 1854 the Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar was the original motherchurch of the diocese. On December 11, 1861, it was destroyed in a fire that consumed most of the city. The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist was built to replace the original and sits on the foundation of the ruins.^[5] Before the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh was formed, the Diocese of Charleston had a pro-cathedral in Wilmington, North Carolina, that is now St. Mary Catholic Church.

List of Bishops

The complete list of Bishops is as follows:^[1]

1. Right Rev. John England 1820 -1842
2. Right Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds 1843 -1855
3. Right Rev. Patrick N. Lynch 1857 -1882
4. Right Rev. Henry P. Northrop 1883 -1916
5. Most Rev. William Thomas Russell 1916 -1927
6. Most Rev. Emmet M. Walsh 1927 -1949
7. Most Rev. John J. Russell 1950 -1958
8. Most Rev. Paul John Hallinan 1958 -1962
9. Most Rev. Francis Frederick Reh 1962 -1964
10. Most Rev. Ernest Leo Unterkoefler 1964 -1990
11. Most Rev. David B. Thompson 1990 -1999
12. Most Rev. Robert J. Baker 1999 -2007
13. Most Rev. Robert E. Guglielmone 2009 – present

Departments

Newspaper

The Catholic Miscellany, successor to the U.S. Catholic Miscellany, the first Catholic newspaper in the United States, is the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

Schools

• Superintendent of Schools:
  • Sr. Canice Adams, SSCM, Interim-Superintendent
  • Jacqualine Kasprowski, Interim-Superintendent

High schools

Diocesan High schools

• Bishop England High School – Charleston
• Cardinal Newman High School – Forest Acres
• Bishop Baker High School – Planned to be built in Myrtle Beach
• Pope John Paul II High School – Planned to be built in Beaufort

Private High schools

• St. Joseph's Catholic School – Greenville
• St. Francis Xavier High School – Sumter

Parochial Elementary schools

• Saint John Catholic School – North Charleston
• Blessed Sacrament School – Charleston
• Charleston Catholic School – Charleston
• Christ Our King-Stella Maris – Mount Pleasant
• Nativity School – Charleston
• St. John Neumann Catholic School – Columbia
• St. Joseph Catholic School – Columbia
• St. Joseph Catholic School – Anderson
• St. Martin de Porres Catholic School – Columbia
• St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School – Aiken
• St. Peter Catholic School – Columbia
• Summerville Catholic School – Summerville
• Prince of Peace Catholic School – Taylors
• St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School – Spartanburg
• St. Francis by the Sea Catholic School – Hilton Head
• St. Anthony Catholic School - Florence
• St. Anne Catholic School - Sumter

See also

• List of Roman Catholic Churches in the Diocese of Charleston
• The Catholic Miscellany

References

Resources

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston
• Catholic Hierarchy Profile of the Diocese of Charleston
• Saint John Catholic Church, North Charleston
• Prince of Peace Catholic School, Taylors