Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana

For The Diocese of same name in Indiana, see Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana.

Diocese of Lafayette Dioecesis Lafayettensis
Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Lafayette
Location
Country	United States
Territory	The Civil Parishes of St. Landry, Evangeline, Lafayette, St. Martin, Iberia, St. Mary, Acadia and Vermilion
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of New Orleans
Metropolitan	Lafayette, Louisiana
Population - Catholics	322,349
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	January 11, 1918
Cathedral	Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist
Patron saint	Immaculate Conception
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Bishop	Charles Michael Jarrell Bishop of Lafayette
Metropolitan Archbishop	Gregory Michael Aymond Archbishop of New Orleans
Website
www.diolaf.org

The Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana is an ecclesiastical division of the Catholic Church in the United States. The oldest church in the diocese is the parish church of St. Martinville, dating back to 1756. The diocese was created on January 11, 1918 from the western part of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The size of the diocese was nearly halved by the creation of the Diocese of Lake Charles on January 29, 1980.

Geographic Summary

The diocese consists of four regions containing eight civil parishes:

• North (St. Landry Parish and Evangeline Parish)
• Central (most of Lafayette Parish and a large part of St. Martin Parish)
• South (Iberia Parish and St. Mary Parish, as well as part of St. Martin Parish)
• West (Acadia Parish and Vermilion Parish, as well as a small part of Lafayette Parish)

Bishops

• Jules Benjamin Jeanmard † (18 Jul 1918 Appointed - 13 Mar 1956 Retired)
• Maurice Schexnayder † (13 Mar 1956 Appointed - 7 Nov 1972 Retired)
• Gerard Louis Frey † (7 Nov 1972 Appointed - 13 May 1989 Retired)
• Harry Joseph Flynn (15 May 1989 Succeeded - 24 Feb 1994 Appointed, Coadjutor Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Edward Joseph O'Donnell † (8 Nov 1994 Appointed - 8 Nov 2002 Resigned due to ill health)
• Charles Michael Jarrell (8 Nov 2002 Appointed)

† = deceased

Bishops who once were priests of the Diocese of Lafayette

The following men began their service as priests in Lafayette before being appointed bishops elsewhere:

• Glen Provost – Appointed Bishop of Lake Charles on March 6, 2007; ordained a bishop on April 23, 2007

High schools

• Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau
• Catholic High School, New Iberia
• Hanson Memorial High School, Franklin
• Notre Dame High School, Crowley
• Opelousas Catholic School, Opelousas
• Sacred Heart High School, Ville Platte
• St. Edmund High School, Eunice
• St. Thomas More School, Lafayette
• Teurlings Catholic High School, Lafayette
• Vermilion Catholic High School, Abbeville

Ecclesiastical province of New Orleans

See: List of the Catholic bishops of the United States#Province of New Orleans

External links

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette - Official Homepage
• Brief description of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist
• Photos of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist