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Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo

Coordinates: 35°11′57″N 101°50′43″W / 35.19917°N 101.84528°W / 35.19917; -101.84528
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Diocese of Amarillo

Dioecesis Amarillensis
Coat of arms
Location
Country United States
TerritoryPanhandle of Texas
Ecclesiastical provinceProvince of San Antonio
Statistics
Area25,800 sq mi (67,000 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2012)
427,927
50,237 (11.7%)
Parishes38
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedAugust 3, 1926
CathedralSt. Mary's Cathedral
Patron saintSaint Lawrence[1]
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopPatrick Zurek
Metropolitan ArchbishopGustavo Garcia-Siller
Map
Website
amarillodiocese.org

The Diocese of Amarillo (Latin: Dioecesis Amarillensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in the Texas Panhandle region in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Antonio.

The mother church of the Diocese of Amarillo is St. Mary's Cathedral in Amarillo. As of 2023, the bishop of Amarillo is Patrick Zurek.

Territory

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The Diocese of Amarillo consists of the following 26 counties:

Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, and Wheeler.[2]

History

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1800 to 1926

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The Texas Panhandle was under several different Catholic jurisdictions before the creation of the Diocese of Amarillo:

The first Catholic priests in the region came from Kansas and New Mexico during the 1870s, serving the small Catholic population in periodic visits. The first Catholic church in the Texas Panhandle was St. Mary's, dedicated in Clarendon in 1892, to serve Irish and German railroad workers.[3] In 1903, construction started on St. Mary's, the first Catholic church in Amarillo.[4]

1903 to 1941

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Pope Pius XI founded the Diocese of Amarillo on August 3, 1926, taking its territory from the Dioceses of Dallas and San Antonio.[5][6] The new diocese contained large areas of northern Texas. The pope named Reverend Rudolph Gerken of Dallas as the first bishop of Amarillo.[7] During his tenure in Amarillo, Gerken oversaw the construction of thirty-five churches. He also founded Price Memorial College in Amarillo and served as its first president.[8] In 1933, Gerken became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.[9]

The second bishop of Amarillo was Reverend Robert Lucey of the Diocese of Los Angeles, named by Pius XI in 1934.[10] He established the Texas Panhandle Register as the diocesan newspaper. Lucey was elevated to archbishop of San Antonio in 1941. That same year, Pope Pius XII appointed Monsignor Laurence FitzSimon of San Antonio as the next bishop of Amarillo.[11][12]

1941 to 1980

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During Fitzsimon's 17-year-long tenure as bishop, the number of churches, priests, schools, and institutions in the diocese more than doubled.[13] In September 1945, after the end of World War II, FitzSimon wrote a letter to US Congressman Francis E. Worley protesting the conditions at the Italian prisoner of war camp in Hereford, Texas. FitzSimon had visited the camp in July 1945 and saw that prisoners were receiving low rations of substandard quality. They also told him stories of beatings and other mistreatment by guards.[14] Fitzsimon died in 1958.

Auxiliary Bishop John Morkovsky was the next bishop of Amarillo, named by Pius XII in 1958. The Vatican in 1961 erected the Diocese of San Angelo, taking 21 counties from the Diocese of Amarillo.[3] Morkovsky became coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1963.[15] Pope John XXIII in 1963 named Monsignor Lawrence De Falco of the Diocese of Fort Worth as the fifth bishop of Amarillo.[16]

During his 16-year-long tenure, De Falco worked to implement the Second Vatican Council reforms, establishing pastoral councils and senates of priests, of nuns, and of deacons.[17] He also reduced diocesan debt, but was forced to close several schools and hospitals.[17] St. Laurence Church in Amarillo replaced Sacred Heart as the diocesan cathedral in 1975.[18] De Falco retired due to poor health in 1979.

1980 to present

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In 1980, Pope John Paul II appointed Reverend Leroy Matthiesen of Amarillo as bishop of that diocese.[19] In 1981, in protest of the assembly of the neutron bomb at a facility in Pantex, Matthiesen called for workers there to resign their jobs in protest. None were reported to have obeyed his call.[20]

The Vatican in 1983 erected the Diocese of Lubbock, taking 23 counties from the southern part of the Diocese of Amarillo.[21] Matthiesen retired in 1997. The next bishop of Amarillo was Auxiliary Bishop John Yanta of San Antonio, appointed by John Paul II in 1997. Yanta retired in 2008.[22]

As of 2023, the bishop of Amarillo is Patrick Zurek from San Antonio, named by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.[23]

Sex abuse

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During his tenure as bishop, Bishop Matthiesen admitted eight priests into the Diocese of Amarillo after they had undergone treatment following accusations of sexual impropriety.[24] The most controversial individuals were John Salazar and Ed Graff.[25]

  • Salazar in 1987 went to prison in California for abusing two teenage boys in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. When Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles heard that Matthiesen had accepted Salazar, he sent a letter of warning to the Vatican.[26] Matthiesen disregarded Mahoney's appeal
  • Graff was dismissed from the Diocese of Allentown due to multiple accusations of sexual abuse. After Matthiesen accepted Graff into the Diocese of Amarillo, Bishop Thomas Welsh expressed his concern that Matthiesen never consulted him on the wisdom of the Graff transfer.[25]

In July 2002, Bishop Yanta and the diocese were named in a lawsuit for the rape of a teenage girl in 2000 by Reverend Rosendo Herrera. When the plaintiff was age 17, Herrera raped and impregnated her. The accuser said that the diocese was aware of previous offenses by Herrera, but had failed to notify authorities as required by Texas state law.[27]

By September 2002, eight priests had resigned from the diocese due to sexual abuse allegations.[28] In 2003, the diocese settled the lawsuit for the woman impregnated by Herrera, providing approximately $27,000 for the child.[29] In November 2004, the diocese settled a second lawsuit for $50,000. The female plaintiff had claimed that Herrera engaged in wrongful contact with her.[30]

In 2004, Matthiessen stirred controversy when he started a private fundraising effort for three priests whom he had removed from public ministry.[31]

In January 2019, the diocese released a list of 30 clergy with credible allegations of sexual abuse.[32]

Bishops

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Bishops of Amarillo

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  1. Rudolph Gerken (1926–1933), appointed Archbishop of Santa Fe
  2. Robert Emmet Lucey (1934–1941), appointed Archbishop of San Antonio
  3. Laurence Julius FitzSimon (1941–1958)
  4. John Louis Morkovsky (1958–1963), appointed Bishop of Galveston-Houston
  5. Lawrence Michael De Falco (1963–1979)
  6. Leroy Theodore Matthiesen (1980–1997)
  7. John Walter Yanta (1997–2008)
  8. Patrick Zurek (2008–present)

Other diocesan priests who became a bishop

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Thomas Joseph Drury, appointed Bishop of San Angelo in 1961 and later Bishop of Corpus Christi

Education

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The Diocese of Amarillo has one high school, Holy Cross Catholic Academy in Amarillo, along with four elementary schools and one pre-school.[33]

Former cathedrals

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "About Us".
  2. ^ "Amarillo (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  3. ^ a b Rooney, Sister Nellie (November 1, 1994). "Amarillo, Catholic Diocese of". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  4. ^ "Cathedral History". St. Mary's Cathedral. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  5. ^ "History of the Diocese of Dallas" (PDF). Diocess of Dallas. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  6. ^ "Diocese of Amarillo". Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  7. ^ "Archbishop Rudolph Aloysius Gerken [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  8. ^ WELCH, KAREN SMITH. "Diocese tears down Price College". Amarillo Globe-News. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  9. ^ "ARCHBISH_0__PP R -- A. GERKEN; { Catholic Prelate at Santa Fe, 55, I Once Texas' School Teacher }". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  10. ^ Williams, p. 362.
  11. ^ "Bishop Laurence Julius FitzSimon". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  12. ^ "NAMED BISHOP IN TEXAS; Very Rev. L.J. FitzSimon Goes to Catholic See at Amarillo". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  13. ^ "FITZSIMON, LAURENCE JULIUS (1895-1958)". Texas State Historical Association.
  14. ^ Williams, Donald Mace (2001). Italian POWs and a Texas Church: The Murals of St. Mary's. Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 978-0-89672-470-9.
  15. ^ "Bishop John Louis Morkovsky [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  16. ^ "Bishop Lawrence Michael De Falco". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  17. ^ a b "DEFALCO, LAWRENCE MICHAEL (1915-1979)". The Handbook of Texas Online.
  18. ^ Albracht, Chris. "St. Laurence Cathedral—History". Diocese of Amarillo. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  19. ^ "Bishop Leroy Theodore Matthiesen [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  20. ^ Briggs, Kenneth A. (1981-09-08). "Religious Leaders Objecting to Nuclear Arms". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  21. ^ Association, Texas State Historical. "Amarillo, Catholic Diocese of". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  22. ^ "Bishop John Walter Yanta [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  23. ^ "More Info". Catholic Diocese of Amarillo. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  24. ^ "Former Amarillo bishop solicits donations to aid dismissed priests | Lubbock Online |". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. May 24, 2004. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  25. ^ a b "Former Texas Panhandle priest named in Pennsylvania grand jury report". 15 August 2018.
  26. ^ Powers, Ashley (December 30, 2013). "One troubled priest who got a second chance". Los Angeles Times.
  27. ^ "Suit claims priest fathered child, diocese covered up abuse". Plainview Herald. July 11, 2002. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  28. ^ Blaney, Betsy (2002-09-02). "Amarillo Diocese Hit Hard by Sex Abuse". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  29. ^ "Diocese settles paternity lawsuit filed by teen girl" Houston Chronicle, February 28, 2003
  30. ^ "Amarillo diocese settles second suit involving former priest". Plainview Herald. 2004-11-29. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  31. ^ "Matthiesen, antinuclear activist-bishop, dies at 88". National Catholic Reporter. 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  32. ^ Watkins, Matthew (2019-01-31). "Amarillo Diocese releases names of 30 clergy accused of sexual assault of minors". KVII. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  33. ^ "Schools". Diocese of Amarillo. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
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35°11′57″N 101°50′43″W / 35.19917°N 101.84528°W / 35.19917; -101.84528

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