Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts

Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts
Dioecesis Campifontis
Location
Country United States
Territory Western Massachusetts
Ecclesiastical province Boston
Metropolitan Boston
Coordinates 42°06′19″N 72°35′07″W / 42.10528°N 72.58528°W / 42.10528; -72.58528Coordinates: 42°06′19″N 72°35′07″W / 42.10528°N 72.58528°W / 42.10528; -72.58528
Statistics
Area 2,822 sq mi (7,310 km2)
Population
- Catholics
235,000 (28.9%)
Parishes 81
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established June 14, 1870
Cathedral St. Michael's Cathedral
Patron saint Saint Michael
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski
Metropolitan Archbishop Seán Patrick O'Malley
Emeritus Bishops Thomas L. Dupré
Timothy A. McDonnell
Map
Website
Diocese website
St Michael's Cathedral

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts (Latin: Dioecesis Campifontis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts by canon June 14, 1870, in territory taken from the present-day Archdiocese of Boston.

The Basilica of St. Stanislaus in Chicopee is under the circumscription of the diocese.[1]

Suppression and closure of parishes

In an online news brief by the Catholic News Service (CNS) that was posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2011:

"The Springfield Diocese has been informed that the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest tribunal, has upheld the diocese's decision to suppress and close three parishes.

According to a November 10 press release issued by the diocese, the upholding of the parish closings "is a definitive finding which supports the actions of the diocese, thus removing any possibility for their restoration as parishes."

The three parishes in the western Massachusetts diocese involved in the final ruling were St. Stanislaus Kostka in Adams and St. George and St. Patrick in Chicopee. The decision affirmed merging St. Stanislaus Kostka with Pope John Paul the Great Parish, and St. George and St. Patrick with Holy Name of Jesus.

In the same action, the press release said, the Vatican court indicated the diocese had not yet provided sufficient cause to use the former churches for nonreligious uses, a similar point made by the Vatican Congregation for Clergy in its decision.

But the diocese said the court's secondary finding does not require that these church buildings be reopened, and does not mandate that they be restored as regular worship sites, since the parishes they were assigned to no longer exist. "This action simply means they cannot be actively used for any nonreligious purpose. It allows for no use, or a wide range of other nonworship religious uses," the diocesan news release said.

Future actions by the diocese may include using the clarification now provided by the Apostolic Signatura to issue a decree stating "the need to reduce the status of the church buildings for alternative uses as permitted."..."[2]

Bishops

Bishops and their terms of service:

  1. Patrick Thomas O'Reilly (1870-1892, Died)
  2. Thomas Daniel Beaven (1892-1920, Died)
  3. Thomas Michael O'Leary (1921-1949, Died)
  4. Christopher Joseph Weldon (1950-1977, Retired)
  5. Joseph Francis Maguire (1977-1992, Died)
  6. John Aloysius Marshall (1992-1994, Died)
  7. Thomas Ludger Dupré (1995-2004, Resigned)
  8. Timothy Anthony McDonnell (2004–2014, Retired)
  9. Mitchell Thomas Rozanski (2014-Present)

High schools

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Basilicas: USA -82". GCatholic.org. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Vatican rulings mixed on US parishioners' appeals on closed churches". Catholic News Service. February 17, 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
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