- Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport
-
Diocese of Bridgeport
Dioecesis Bridgeportensis
Location Country United States Territory County of Fairfield Ecclesiastical province Province of Hartford Metropolitan Bridgeport, Connecticut Population
- Catholics
410,304Information Denomination Roman Catholic Rite Latin Rite Established August 6, 1953 Cathedral Cathedral of Saint Augustine Current leadership Bishop William E. Lori
Bishop of BridgeportMetropolitan Archbishop Henry Joseph Mansell
Archbishop of HartfordMap 
Website bridgeportdiocese.com The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport is located in the south western part of the state of Connecticut, and its boundaries are the same as that of Fairfield County, Connecticut. There are 87 parishes in the diocese. Its cathedral is St. Augustine in Bridgeport.
The current bishop is The Most Reverend William E. Lori, appointed March 19, 2001.
The diocese, is one of 195 Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States. It is one of four dioceses in the Ecclesiastical Province of Hartford—the others are the Archdiocese of Hartford, the Diocese of Norwich and the Diocese of Providence.
The church with the greatest capacity in the diocese is St. Mary's Church on Elm [[Street in Stamford, built in 1928.
Sacred Heart in Georgetown is where Catholic writers Flannery O'Connor and Robert Fitzgerald worshipped in 1949-1952 when O'Connor was living in Ridgefield as a boarder with the Fitzgeralds. ("The working day as we set it up that fall began with early Mass in Georgetown, four miles away," Fitzgerald wrote.)[1]
Contents
Size
The diocese has more than 363,000 registered Catholics in Fairfield County, 43 percent of the total population.[2]
Other statistics:[3]
- Baptisms: 5,273
- First Communions: 5,693
- Marriages: 1,188
- Funerals: 3,545
Priests, sisters, etc.
These figures from the Diocese are said to be accurate as of 2005:[3]
- Diocesan Priests: 273
- Permanent Deacons: 99
- Religious Sisters: 395
- Seminarians for Priesthood: 21
- Priests Ordained in 2005: 2
Social services
For the elderly
The Diocese also sponsors nursing homes in Danbury, Stamford, and Trumbull; and eight "Bishop Curtis Homes" for the elderly in Bethel, Danbury, Greenwich, Stamford, Fairfield, and Bridgeport.
Other
"Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, with 25 program offices throughout the county, provides the largest private network of social services in southwestern Connecticut," according to the diocese.[2]
Education
Primary and secondary level
The diocese sponsors 33 regional elementary schools (with 8,832 students) including All Saints Catholic School in Norwalk, St. Aloysius School in New Canaan; and five diocesan high schools (with 2627 students). Two other Catholic high schools are directed by religious communities. Altogether, these schools educate nearly 14,000 youth (2,500 of whom are minorities and 1,700 are non-Catholics).[3]
High Schools
- Convent of the Sacred Heart*, Greenwich
- Fairfield College Preparatory School*, Fairfield
- Immaculate High School, Danbury
- Kolbe Cathedral High School, Bridgeport
- Notre Dame Catholic High School, Fairfield
- St. Joseph High School, Trumbull
- Trinity Catholic High School, Stamford
- *Independently operated with blessing of Diocese.
Higher education
These three Roman Catholic schools in the diocese have more than 10,775 students:
- Fairfield University
- Sacred Heart University
- St. Vincent's College in Bridgeport
History
The Church in Fairfield County, in Connecticut and in America faced ongoing challenges through much of its history as diverse immigrant groups struggled to acclimate themselves to American culture. Another early challenge came from deep suspicions among many (although not all) Protestants.
Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
In the seventeenth and much of the eighteenth century, Connecticut Puritan divines were vociferously anti-Catholic in their writings and preaching. Suspicion of the Church as a foreign political power and of Catholics as having loyalty to that power remained widespread into the 20th century.[4]
"In the summer of 1781, Rochambeau and his army marched through Connecticut, encamping in the Ridgebury section of Ridgefield, where the first Catholic Mass [in Fairfield County] was offered. His troops were mostly Catholic and were ministered to by priests whom history proudly remembers: Reverend Fathers Robin, Gluson, Lacy, and Saint Pierre."[5] In 1780-1781, the small town of Lebanon, Connecticut, had the distinction of being the place in which the Catholic "Mass was first celebrated, continuously and for a long period, within the limits of the State of Connecticut."[6] On June 26, 1881, St. Peter's parish, Hartford, celebrated "the centenary of the first Mass in Connecticut." [7]
Connecticut passed an act of toleration in 1784, allowing any Protestant to avoid taxes supporting the local Congregational Church who could show authorities a document proving membership and regular attendance at another church. In 1791 the same right was extended to all Christians. The act had little practical effect for Catholics, however, since there was no Catholic parish in the state.[8]
Nineteenth century
The first Catholic church in the state was started in 1829, in Hartford, the second began in 1832 in New Haven. By 1835 the rector of the New Haven church estimated there were 720 Catholics in Fairfield County, with Bridgeport the home of the biggest community—about 100 people.[9]
On July 24, 1842, St. James the Apostle Church was dedicated by Bishop Fenwick at the corner of Washington Avenue and Arch Street in Bridgeport, which by then had a population of about 250 Catholics. The rector of the church was given responsibility for small Catholic communities of Derby and Norwalk. Catholics in Stamford, Greenwich and some other towns were ministered to by the Bridgeport rector and by Jesuit priests based at Fordham College in New York City.[9]
The Diocese of Hartford was split off from the Diocese of Boston (which had covered all of New England) on November 28, 1843. The new diocese covered all of Connecticut and Rhode Island (which wasn't split off from the Hartford Diocese until decades later).[10]
Twentieth Century
The diocese was established August 6, 1953, from the Diocese of Hartford.[11]
Bishops
- Lawrence Shehan, 1953–1961
- Walter William Curtis, 1961–1988
- Edward Egan, 1988–2000
- William E. Lori, 2001–present
2006 Scandal
The pastor of St. John Church in Darien, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay, took $1.4 million in church funds over a six-year period to splurge on luxuries, according to a report prepared by outside forensic auditors hired by the diocese.[12]
Sex-abuse Litigation
Main article: Sexual abuse scandal in Bridgeport dioceseIn May 2009, a decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court ordered the release of thousands of legal documents from lawsuits filed against priests accused of sexually abusing children (George L. Rosado et al. v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corporation et al., (SC 17807) [5]).
References
- ^ Fitzgerald, Robert, "Introduction," p. xiv, "Everything That Rises Must Converge," (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: New York), nineteenth printing, 1978
- ^ a b [1] "Who We Are" page on Diocese Web site, accessed July 18, 2006
- ^ a b c [2] "At a Glance" Web page of the official Diocese of Bridgeport Web site
- ^ DiGiovanni, the Rev. (now Monsignor) Stephen M., The Catholic Church in Fairfield County: 1666-1961, 1987, William Mulvey Inc., New Canaan, Introduction: Catholic Roots in Fairfield County, page xxiv, hereafter DiGiovanni
- ^ [3] Lori, Bishop William E., "Happy Birthday, General Rochambeau!" article (part of Lori's regular column) Fairfield County Catholic, July 15, 2006, accessed July 27, 2006
- ^ Right Rev. Thomas S. Duggan, D.D., The Catholic Church in Connecticut, 1930, p. 13
- ^ Duggan, p. 14
- ^ DiGiovanni, p. xxiv
- ^ a b DiGiovanni, p. xxviii
- ^ DiGiovanni, pp. xxvii-xxviii
- ^ Racial Justice Among Top Goals of Cardinal-Designate; Archbishop Shehan Called Well-Read, Energetic, Priestly, Scholarly, Tactful, Toledo Blade, January 25, 1965. Page 22.
- ^ [4], Cowan, Alison Leigh, "Auditors Say Priest Took $1.4 Million Before Ouster," article, The New York Times, regional news section, July 29, 2006.
Links to parishes in the diocese
- FAIRFIELD: Assumption Parish
- GREENWICH: St. Mary Parish
- GEORGETOWN: Sacred Heart
- NORWALK: St. Matthew Church
- NORWALK: St. Mary Church
- RIDGEFIELD: St. Mary's,
- STAMFORD: Our Lady Star of the Sea Church
- STAMFORD: St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church
- WESTPORT: Assumption Parish, St. Luke
External links
- Official Web site
- Fairfield County Catholic, the official diocesan newspaper, is published monthly in the summer, biweekly the rest of the year.
- St. John Fisher Seminary, in Stamford, the diocese seminary. (Near the main entrance of the seminary, there is a Perpetual Adoration chapel in which someone is always praying before the Eucharist, 24 hours a day.)
Coordinates: 41°12′42″N 73°12′55″W / 41.21167°N 73.21528°W
Categories:- Christianity in Connecticut
- Fairfield County, Connecticut
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport
- Religious organizations established in 1953
- Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
