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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque

Coordinates: 42°29′06″N 90°40′31″W / 42.48500°N 90.67528°W / 42.48500; -90.67528
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Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque

Archidiœcesis Metropolitae Dubuquensis
St. Raphael's Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location
CountryUnited States
Territory30 counties in Northeastern Iowa
Ecclesiastical provinceDubuque
Coordinates42°29′06″N 90°40′31″W / 42.48500°N 90.67528°W / 42.48500; -90.67528
Statistics
Area17,400 sq mi (45,000 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2018[1])
1,010,471
193,360 (19.1%)
Parishes166
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedJuly 28, 1837 (187 years ago)
CathedralSt. Raphael's Cathedral
Patron saintSt. Raphael
St. John Vianney[2]
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopThomas Robert Zinkula
Metropolitan ArchbishopThomas Robert Zinkula
Bishops emeritusJerome Hanus, O.S.B.
Michael Owen Jackels
Map
Website
dbqarch.org

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque (Latin: Archidiœcesis Metropolitae Dubuquensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States.

The Diocese of Dubuque was erected in 1837 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1893. It is a metropolitan archdiocese with three suffragan dioceses:

Background

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The seat of the archdiocese is St. Raphael's Cathedral, Dubuque, named in honor of the Archangel Raphael. As of 2024, the archbishop is Thomas Zinkula.[3]

The archdiocese includes all the Iowa counties north of Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, and Clinton counties, and east of Kossuth, Humboldt, Webster and Boone counties. It has an area of approximately 17,400 square miles (45,000 km2).

The archdiocese is one of a few American archdioceses that is not based in a major metropolitan area. As of 2023, the archdiocese had 173 priests and 143 permanent deacons serving 163 parishes with a Catholic population of approximately 183,700.[4]

The archdiocese has three Catholic colleges: Loras College and Clarke University in Dubuque and Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. The archdiocese is home to Trappist monastery New Melleray Abbey, the Trappistine monastery Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, and the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier is located in Dyersville, Iowa.

History

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Early years

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The first Catholic presence in present-day Iowa was that of the French Jesuit missionary, Reverend Jacques Marquette, who traveled down the Mississippi River with the explorer Louis Joliet in 1673 to what is now Montrose, Iowa.[5] The region would be under French and Spanish control for the next 131 years.

After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the region passed from French to American control. The few Catholics in the area were originally under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. In 1826, the Iowa area was transferred to the new Diocese of St. Louis. It would remain under iits the jurisdiction for the next 11 years.

The earliest Catholic settlers in the region were French-Canadian, German, and Irish. With the growth of the Catholic population grew, Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis in 1833 sent the Belgian Jesuit Reverend Charles Van Quickenborne to Dubuque, where he organized the first parish.[6] He was followed in 1834 by Reverend Father Charles Francis Fitzmaurice, who began amassing funds to construct a church. When Fitzmaurice died of cholera in early 1835, Rosatis sent the Dominican Reverend Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli to replace him. [7]

Mazzuchelli ministered to a scattered Catholic population of under 3,000.[7] In 1835, he dedicated the first church in the parish, which he named St. Raphael.[6]

Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Dubuque on July 28, 1837, and named Monsignor Mathias Loras from the Diocese of Mobile as its first bishop.[7] This vast diocese covered the entire Iowa Territory along with what became the Minnesota Territory (including North and South Dakota).

Gathering funds and personnel in Alabama, Loras arrived in Dubuque in 1839. He designated St. Raphael as the cathedral parish later that year. Loras encouraged immigration to the area, especially German and Irish settlers.[7] He oversaw the creation of new parishes and invited several religious orders to the area. In 1849, with Ireland ravaged by the Great Famine, several Irish Cistercian monks immigrated to Iowa to build the New Melleray Abbey in Peosta.[8]

In 1850, Pope Pius IX separated the Minnesota Territory from the Diocese of Dubuque to form the new Diocese of St. Paul. Shortly before Loras' death in 1858, he directed the construction of the current St. Raphael's Cathedral.

Expansion and elevation

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In 1858, Bishop Smyth established St. Francis Catholic Church in Balltown. Clement Smyth, OCSO served as bishop from February 1858 to September 1865 and oversaw continued expansion of the Catholic Church in the diocese. During his episcopacy the German Catholics of the city of Dubuque began construction of a new St. Mary's church to replace the too-small Church of the Holy Trinity.

In 1863, Smyth learned of the existence of the pro-Southern Knights of the Golden Circle, with headquarters in Dubuque. He gave members who might be Catholic two weeks to withdraw from the organization or be automatically excommunicated.[9]

After Smyth died in 1865, John Hennessey succeeded him as Bishop of Dubuque. During Hennessey's tenure, the population of Dubuque exploded as the Milwaukee Railroad Shops came to the city. Hennessey created several parishes in Dubuque: Sacred Heart, Holy Ghost, St. Anthony's, and Holy Trinity to deal with this population explosion. During this time, Hennessey proposed separating territory from the diocese to create a new diocese for southern Iowa. While he proposed Des Moines as the seat of the new diocese, Pope Leo XIII selected Davenport as the site.

Nicholas E. Gonner (1835–1892), a Catholic immigrant from Luxembourg, founded the Catholic Publishing Company of Dubuque. His son Nicholas E. Gonner (1835–1892) took over in 1892, editing two German language weeklies, an English language weekly, and the Daily Tribune, the only Catholic daily newspaper ever published in the United States.[10]

On June 15, 1893, Pope Leo XIII elevated the Diocese of Dubuque to the Archdiocese of Dubuque and Hennessey became the first archbishop. Hennessey died in 1900 and was buried at the cathedral.[citation needed]

Early 20th century

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After the death of Hennessey, Archbishop John J. Keane led the archdiocese for eleven years until poor health forced him to retire in 1911. During his tenure, the archdiocese lost its western territory to form the Diocese of Sioux City and achieved its current size.

Archbishop Hennessy

The Great Depression and World War II

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During the years of the Great Depression and World War II, Archbishop Francis J.L. Beckman occupied the see. In the years leading up to the war, Beckman opposed military action. A collector of fine art pieces, he had placed a number of art pieces in a museum at Columbia (now Loras) College and perhaps, thinking he could gain funds to further his collection, involved the archdiocese in what turned out to be a dubious gold mine scheme. Beckman signed notes on behalf of the archdiocese, which suffered a loss of more than $500,000 when the scheme fell apart and the perpetrator of the scheme (Phillip Suetter, of California) was arrested.US President Franklin Roosevelt directed the FBI to investigate Beckman to determine his role in the financial scheme. Most of Beckman's collection was sold to pay the notes.

Because of Beckman's troubles, Bishop Henry Rohlman returned from the Davenport, Iowa, diocese to become coadjutor archbishop in 1944. Beckman was allowed to retain his office, but was informed that Rohlman now led the archdiocese. Beckman retired in 1947, and left Dubuque for Cincinnati.

Postwar era

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One of the effects of the post-war baby boom was an increase in the number of students at some Catholic schools. In Dubuque, the Sacred Heart parish school had the largest student population of such schools in the midwest. On December 2, 1954, Archbishop Leo Binz succeeded Archbishop Rohlman as Archbishop of Dubuque and served in that capacity until December 16, 1961, when he became archbishop of Saint Paul.

Second Vatican Council and the aftermath

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James Byrne was named the next archbishop of Dubuque on March 7, 1962, and was formally installed at St. Raphael's on May 8, 1962. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council. Byrne implemented the changes brought about by the council in the Archdiocese of Dubuque and quickly established the Priests Senate, a clergy advisory board, as well as another advisory board dealing with assignment of priests. These were among the first such boards founded in the United States. Byrne retired from office on August 23, 1983, and remained in Dubuque until his death August 2, 1996.

Late 20th-early 21st centuries

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On February 23, 1984, Daniel William Kucera, OSB, was installed as the tenth bishop and eighth archbishop of Dubuque. Kucera had earned a doctorate in education. At 36, he had become the youngest president of St. Procopius College (now known as Benedictine University). His background in education led Vatican officials, including the pope, to seek his advice.

During Kucera's tenure as archbishop, he remodeled St. Raphael's Cathedral, revised and published the guidelines for the sacrament of Confirmation, reduced the number of deaneries from 16 to 14, reorganized the structure of the archdiocese and created an archbishop's cabinet to coordinate administration of the archdiocese.

In 1987, Kucera also launched a plan that divided the archdiocese into three regions with a resident bishop in each. The Dubuque Region was served by retired Archbishop James Byrne and Archbishop Kucera; the Cedar Rapids Region by Bishop Francis Dunn, and Waterloo Region by William Franklin who was consecrated as a bishop in April 1987. However, Bishop Kucera eventually dropped the plan after the death of Bishop Dunn in 1989 and Bishop Franklin's nomination as the head of the Diocese of Davenport.

In 1986 the archdiocese celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding; Kucera received an honorary degree from the University of Dubuque. On October 16, 1995, Kucera retired, moved to Aurora, Colorado, and then subsequently returned to live in Dubuque.

Early parishes

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St. John the Baptist

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In July 1874 Bishop John Hennessy granted permission to build a church at Centralia. The cornerstone was laid in the Fall of 1874; and George W. Heer was appointed the first pastor of the parish on Sept. 1, 1875. When the railroad came through Peosta, then Archbishop John Joseph Keane deemed it advisable to move St. John the Baptist parish from Centralia to Peosta in 1923. During the winter, parishioners would travel to services by horse-drawn bobsled.[11]

In 1989 a new St. John's Church was dedicated. St. John the Baptist is part of the parish was clustered with the 4 parishes of St. Elizabeth Pastorate, a cluster of five parishes sharing offices and facilities.[11]

St. Francis

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St. Francis Catholic Church in Balltown traces its history to 1858 when a number of area residents petitioned Bishop Loras to establish a Catholic parish in the area. Loras came and offered Mass in a log cabin near Balltown.[12]

Residents gathered the funds to build a church and school. In 1891, local resident Andreas Rapp and his wife donated some land, which allowed for the construction of a brick building containing a school and a convent for the sisters, as well as the establishment of a cemetery. The school opened in September of that year with 45 children attending. Mass was celebrated in a small sanctuary adjoining the schoolroom.[12]

Local resident, Peter Cremer, donated land for a church, and in 1892 the cornerstone for St. Francis Church building was laid. The building would serve the parish until August 27, 1976, when lightning struck the steeple, causing a fire which destroyed the church building. In the aftermath a new St. Francis Church was constructed, while the old convent building was torn down to make room for the new church.[12]

The parish is part of the St. John Baptist de La Salle Pastorate, a cluster of several other rural parishes in northern Dubuque County, Iowa, that share a pastor and other facilities.

Ss. Peter and Paul

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Ss. Peter and Paul Church, Sherrill, Iowa

Founded in 1852, Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Sherrill, Iowa, is part of the St. John Baptist de La Salle Pastorate, a cluster of parishes in the area. [13]

Prior to the founding of the parish, Catholics had to travel 15 miles by ox-team to Dubuque about 15 miles to attend mass. With the influx of German Catholic immigrants to area, Bishop Loras established the St. William Parish in Sherrill. It was renamed Ss. Peter and Paul in 1860.[14][13] In 1889, the parish replaced its original wood church with the current brick and stone Romanesque Revival structure.[14] During the 1970s, the parish removed the original carved wood altars and painted over the 19th-century wood trim.[13]

Stained glass panel at Ss Peter and Paul Church. Geschenk von means "gift of". Catharina Gansemer was the donor.

For over 100 years, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) of La Crosse, Wisconsin, operated the parish school. Many girls of the parish joined that order. The school has consolidated with the parish school from Balltown, Iowa.[13]

Others

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Other early parishes in the diocese include St. Mary's, Sacred Heart, Holy Ghost, and St. Anthony's.

Bishops

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Bishops of Dubuque

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  1. Mathias Loras (1837–1858)
  2. Clement Smyth, OCSO (1858–1865)
  3. John Hennessey (1866–1893), elevated to Archbishop

Archbishops of Dubuque

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  1. John Hennessey (1893–1900)
  2. John Keane (1900–1911)
  3. James Keane (1911–1929)
  4. Francis Beckman (1930–1946)
  5. Henry Rohlman (1946–1954; Coadjutor 1944–1946)
  6. Leo Binz (1954–1961), appointed Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
  7. James Byrne (1962–1983)
  8. Daniel Kucera, OSB (1983–1995)
  9. Jerome Hanus, OSB (1995–2013; Coadjutor 1994–1995)
  10. Michael Owen Jackels (2013–2023)
  11. Thomas Robert Zinkula (2023-present)

Auxiliary bishops

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Other diocesan priests who became bishops

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Notable priests

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Recent events

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Sexual abuse crisis

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Main article: Sexual abuse scandal in Dubuque archdiocese

The Dubuque Archdiocese has not been immune to the sexual abuse crisis affecting the church, but has had to deal with cases involving a couple dozen priests over a 60-year period.

Priest shortage

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The archdiocese has also felt the effects of the priest shortage that has affected the church in recent times. In recent years many smaller, rural parishes have had to close and their congregations had been absorbed into other nearby parishes. Some rural parishes have been clustered together where one priest will serve two or more parishes. Some parishes have no resident priest.

Another effect is that some duties that a priest would have performed in the past are performed by either religious (sister or deacon) individuals, or by the laity.

Controversy over The Passion of the Christ

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The Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ caused controversy in the archdiocese as well. That controversy has long since passed. One of the main issues raised by the film was an editorial cartoon on the movie that the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald published in its editorial section. This cartoon featured a religious sister using corporal punishment. Some in the community have felt that this was a slight against the sisters and all their years of hard work. Others, mainly middle age to older adults, have said that this was representative of the sisters who taught them while they were in school.

Education

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Main article: List of schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque

In Dubuque, the Catholic schools are all part of the Holy Family system. It was proposed to turn St. Anthony's school into a central school for certain grades. Parents of the parish felt that their concerns were being ignored. Eventually, the Archdiocesan Board of Education vetoed the plan, and told the school system to continue work on planning the system's future.

High schools

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School Location Mascot
Beckman Catholic High School Dyersville Trail Blazers
Columbus High School Waterloo Sailors
Don Bosco High School Gilbertville Dons
Marquette High School Bellevue Defenders[16]
Newman Catholic High School Mason City Knights
Wahlert Catholic High School Dubuque Golden Eagles
Xavier High School Cedar Rapids Saints

Seminaries

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Colleges and universities

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Suffragan dioceses

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque". GCatholic. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  2. ^ "November Day by Day".
  3. ^ Noguchi, Chieko (2023-07-26). "Pope Francis Appoints Bishop Thomas Zinkula as Archbishop of Dubuque". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  4. ^ "Statistics". Archdiocese of Dubuque. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  5. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Iowa". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2024-10-13.
  6. ^ a b "St. Raphael Cathedral History". St. Raphael's Cathedral. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  7. ^ a b c d "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Dubuque". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2024-10-13.
  8. ^ "History – New Melleray". Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  9. ^ Keller, Rudi (June 13, 2014). "Knights of the Golden Circle".
  10. ^ Adam, Thomas, ed. (2005). Germany and the Americas. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 458. ISBN 978-1851096282.
  11. ^ a b "St. John the Baptist | St. Elizabeth Pastorate". stelizabethpastorate.com. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  12. ^ a b c "St. Francis | home". www.lasallepastorate.com. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  13. ^ a b c d "Ss. Peter and Paul Church". St. John Baptist de La Salle Pastorate. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Klinkenberg, Dean (2009-10-03). "Sherrill". Mississippi Valley Traveler. Retrieved 2024-10-13.
  15. ^ "Pearl Harbor Priest Identified 75 Years Later". NCR. 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2024-10-13.
  16. ^ "Marquette Catholic Schools". Marquette Catholic Schools. Archived from the original on 2024-02-23. Retrieved 2024-02-23.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Dubuque". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Sources

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  • Hoffman, Mathias M., Centennial History of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Columbia College Press, Dubuque, Iowa, 1938.
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