Roman Catholic Diocese of Lake Charles

Diocese of Lake Charles
Dioecesis Lacus Carolini

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles
Location
Country United States
Territory The Civil Parishes of: Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis
Ecclesiastical province Archdiocese of New Orleans
Population
- Catholics
80,519 (29%)
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established January 29, 1980
Cathedral Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Patron saint Mary Immaculate, Mother of Jesus
St. Peter Claver
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Glen Provost
Bishop of Lake Charles
Metropolitan Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond
Archbishop of New Orleans
Map
Website
lcdiocese.org

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lake Charles (Latin: Dioecesis Lacus Carolini), is a particular church located in southwest Louisiana (USA). It is a fairly new diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, being founded on January 29, 1980. It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of New Orleans.[1]

Description

The diocese is administered from the city of Lake Charles. The patron saint of the diocese is St. Peter Claver and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception serves as the Episcopal see.

The Diocese comprises five civil parishes: Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis.

The statue of the Millennium Christ is located in Bilbo Cemetery in Lake Charles. The actual name of the statue is "Jesus Christ Our Citizen of the Centuries" and it stands atop an eight-foot Labrador green granite base. The statue was sculpted by Janie Stine LaCroix, a native of nearby Sulphur and a descendant of John Jacob Ryan Jr., who is regarded as being the 'Father of Lake Charles'; Ryan is buried in the cemetery. The statue is regarded as being a symbol of peace and unity for all citizens and faiths of southwest Louisiana.

On 6 March 2007 Pope Benedict XVI named Glen Provost as the new bishop. On 23 April 2007, Bishop Provost was ordained to the episcopate, and formally installed by the Archbishop of New Orleans, Alfred C. Hughes.

Mission statement

The mission statement of the Diocese reads as follows:

We, the Roman Catholics of Southwest Louisiana, are a people called by God, to worship Him, to praise His great name and to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Him through Jesus Christ. Chosen by God and made His own through Baptism, we seek to declare the wonderful deeds of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We, the faithful of the Diocese of Lake Charles, gathered with our bishop, pledge to carry on the work of Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit by promoting personal holiness for ourselves and increasing the flock under His care.

Ordinaries

The list of the bishops of the diocese and their years of service:

  1. Jude Speyrer † (1980–2000)
  2. Edward Kenneth Braxton (2000–2005) – Appointed bishop of Belleville (Illinois) on March 15, 2005.
  3. Glen Provost (2007–present)

† = deceased

Child Sexual Abuse

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office and Louisiana State Police arrested Mark Broussard, 56, on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Broussard was accused of abusing three boys as young as 8 years old while serving at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church and St. Henry's Catholic Church in Lake Charles, La. Broussard later served as pastor of St. Eugene Catholic Church in Grand Chenier where he resigned from the priesthood in 1994.

Broussard was eventually charged with 224 counts of abuse which were later consolidated into 10 counts to ease the burden on the victims. Three additional victims declined to pursue charges against Broussard. (source)

At the time of his arrest Broussard's personnel file contained documents indicating the Diocese of Lake Charles knew Broussard had sexual contact with at least four other children but these incidents were never reported to law enforcement. (source)

High schools

References

  1. ↑ http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dlake.html

External links

Coordinates: 30°12′53″N 93°12′31″W / 30.21472°N 93.20861°W