Roman Catholic Diocese of Münster

Diocese of Münster Dioecesis Monasteriensis Bistum Münster (German)
Diocese of Münster in Germany
Location
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of Cologne
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Cologne
Statistics
Area	15,268 km2 (5,895 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 4,317,937 2,056,427 (47.6%)
Parishes	675
Information
Established	800
Cathedral	Cathedral of St. Paul
Secular priests	1,069
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Bishop	Felix Genn
Metropolitan Archbishop	Joachim Meisner
Auxiliary Bishop	Dieter Geerlings Christoph Hegge Wilfried Theising Heinrich Timmerevers Stefan Zekorn
Emeritus Bishops	Reinhard Lettmann Alfons Demming Heinrich Janssen Friedrich Ostermann Max Georg von Twickel
Website
bistum-muenster.de

The Diocese of Münster is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Bishop Felix Genn is the current Bishop of the Diocese of Münster. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 11, 1976 and was appointed to the See of Münster on December 19, 2008.

Statistics

As of 31 Dec. 2006, with 4,336 million or 47.1 % , nearly half of the population in the Münster diocese was Roman Catholic, due to the continuing securalisation this is a lower percentage than before. Sunday mass attendance is also significantly less nowadays than one, two or three decades ago. As per the diocese Web site: in 2005 there were 13.6% Roman Catholics attended Sunday mass; in 2004, this was 14.5%. One decade before in 1995, Sunday mass attendance was about 20%(416.406 Gottesdienstbesucher); in 1985, Sunday mass attendance was 29.3% (614,839 Roman Catholics); and, in 1975, Sunday mass attendance was 35.1% or 787,582 persons. In 30 years, Sunday mass attendance dropped more than half. As of 18 July 2007 there were 1,256 priests, 248 permanent deacons and 3,150 religious in the archdiocese. ^[1]

History

See also: Prince-Bishopric of Münster

The diocese was canonically erected in 800 by Pope Leo III. It lost territory on February 23 1957 to the newly established Diocese of Essen.

Ordinaries

• Heinrich Graf von Moers † ( 1424 Appointed - 2 Jun 1450 Died)
• Walram Graf von Moers † (14 Jul 1450 Appointed - 3 Oct 1456 Died)
• Johann Pfalzgraf von Rhein † (11 Apr 1457 Appointed - 20 May 1465 Confirmed, Archbishop of Magdeburg)
• Heinrich Graf von Schwarzburg † (Apr 1466 Appointed - 14 Dec 1496 Died)
• Konrad Graf von Rietberg † (18 Apr 1497 Appointed - 9 Feb 1508 Died)
• Erich Herzog von Sachsen-Lauenburg † (24 Feb 1508 Appointed - 20 Oct 1522 Died)
• Friedrich zu Wied † (6 Nov 1522 Appointed - 24 Mar 1532 Resigned)
• Erich Herzog von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen † (27 Mar 1532 Appointed - 14 May 1532 Died)
• Franz Graf von Waldeck † (1 Jun 1532 Appointed - 15 Jul 1553 Died)
• Wilhelm von Ketteler † (21 Jul 1553 Appointed - 2 Dec 1557 Resigned)
• Bernhard von Raesfeld † (4 Dec 1557 Appointed - 25 Oct 1566 Resigned)
• Johann Graf von Hoya zu Stolzenau † (26 Oct 1566 Appointed - 5 Apr 1574 Died)
• Johann Wilhelm Herzog von Jülich-Kleve-Berg † (28 Apr 1574 Appointed - 18 May 1585 Resigned)
• Ernst Herzog von Bayern † (18 May 1585 Appointed - 17 Feb 1612 Died)
• Ferdinand Herzog von Bayern † (18 Feb 1612 Confirmed - 13 Sep 1650 Died)
• Christoph Bernhard von Galen † (14 Nov 1650 Appointed - 19 Sep 1678 Died)
• Ferdinand Reichsfreiherr von Fürstenberg † (19 Sep 1678 Succeeded - 26 Jun 1683 Died)
• Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg zu Lenhausen † (29 Jul 1688 Appointed - 5 May 1706 Died)
• Franz Arnold Reichsfreiherr von Wolf-Metternich zur Gracht † (8 Jun 1707 Appointed - 25 Dec 1718 Died)
• Clemens August Maria Herzog von Bayern † (26 Mar 1719 Appointed - 6 Feb 1761 Died)
• Max Friedrich Reichsgraf von Königsegg und Rothenfels † (16 Sep 1762 Appointed - 15 Apr 1784 Died)
• Max Franz (Maximilian Franciscus) von Habsburg-Lothringen (Österreich) † (15 Apr 1784 Succeeded - 29 Jul 1801 Died)
• Ferdinand Hermann Maria Freiherr von Lüninck † (28 Aug 1820 Appointed - 18 Mar 1825 Died)
• Kaspar Max Freiherr Droste zu Vischering † (15 Jun 1825 Appointed - 3 Aug 1846 Died)
• Bernard Georg Kellermann † (10 Dec 1846 Appointed - 29 Mar 1847 Died)
• Johann Georg Müller † (1 Jul 1847 Appointed - 19 Jan 1870 Died)
• Johannes Bernard Brinkmann † (6 Apr 1870 Appointed - 13 Apr 1889 Died)
• Hermann Jakob Dingelstad † (15 Aug 1889 Appointed - 6 Mar 1911 Died)
• Felix von Hartmann † (6 Jun 1911 Appointed - 29 Oct 1912 Appointed, Archbishop of Köln {Cologne})
• Johannes Poggenburg † (7 May 1913 Appointed - 5 Jan 1933 Died)
• Bl. Clemens August Graf von Galen † (5 Sep 1933 Appointed - 22 Mar 1946 Died)
• Michael Keller † (19 Jul 1947 Appointed - 7 Nov 1961 Died)
• Joseph Höffner † (9 Jul 1962 Appointed - 6 Jan 1969 Appointed, Coadjutor Archbishop of Köln {Cologne})
• Heinrich Tenhumberg † (7 Jul 1969 Appointed - 16 Sep 1979 Died)
• Reinhard Lettmann (11 Jan 1980 Appointed - 28 Mar 2008 Retired)
• Felix Genn (19 Dec 2008 Appointed - )

Footnotes

1. ^ Vatican Information Service July 18, 2007

See also

• Prince-Bishopric of Münster
• Roman Catholicism in Germany

External links

• Website of the Diocese
• catholic-hierarchy.org
•  "Münster". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.