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Diocese of Fargo

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Diocese of Fargo
Dioecesis Fargensis
Catholic
Cathedral of St. Mary
Cathedral of St. Mary
Location
Country United States
Territory 30 counties in eastern North Dakota
Episcopal conference United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Ecclesiastical region Region VIII
Ecclesiastical province Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Deaneries 8
Headquarters 5201 Bishops Blvd # A, Fargo, North Dakota 58104
Coordinates 46°52′38″N 96°47′22″W / 46.87722°N 96.78944°W
Statistics
Area 35,786 sq mi (92,690 km2)
Population
Total
Catholics 		(as of 2021)
421,135[1]
69,658[1] (16.5%)
Parishes 129
Schools 14
Information
Denomination Catholic Church
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established November 10, 1889 (136 years ago)
Cathedral Cathedral of St. Mary
Patron saint Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception[2]
Secular priests 100, plus 7 religious priests
Current leadership
Pope Leo XIV
Bishop John Thomas Folda
Metropolitan Archbishop Bernard Hebda
Vicar General Joseph Goering
Map
Website
fargodiocese.org

The Diocese of Fargo (Latin: Dioecesis Fargensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in eastern North Dakota in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The mother church is the Cathedral of St. Mary in Fargo. As of 2023, the bishop is John Folda.

History

The Dakotas area went through several Catholic jurisdictions before the creation of the Diocese of Fargo:

  • Diocese of Saint Louis (1826 to 1837)
  • Diocese of Dubuque (1837 to 1850)
  • Diocese of Saint Paul (1850 to 1879)
  • Vicariate Apostolic of Dakota (1879 to 1889)[3]

1889 to 1900

The Diocese of Jamestown was erected on November 10, 1889, by Pope Leo XIII, taking the new state of North Dakota from the Vicariate Apostolic of Dakota. The pope named John Shanley of Saint Paul as bishop of Jamestown.[3] The new diocese covered the entire state of North Dakota. St. James Church was designated the diocesan cathedral.

That same year, Shanley wrote a letter to the Fargo Argus defending Native-Americans living on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. He denounced actions taken by local Indian agents that hurt the Chippewa/Ojibwe people and highlighted positive aspects of their culture.[4]

Once in Fargo, Shanley purchased property for a new cathedral and started its construction. The basement was completed when a fire destroyed most of downtown Fargo in 1893. Shanley then donated most of the cathedral funds to reconstruct Fargo, delaying the cathedral completion until 1899.[5] Shanley hosted the convention of Catholic Laymen in 1896.[6]

On April 6, 1897, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Jamestown as the Diocese of Fargo.[5] At this time, the diocese contained 60 churches, 33 priests, 14 schools and one hospital.

1900 to 1970

By the time Shanley died in July 1909, the diocese had 106 priests, 225 churches, six academies, 34 schools and four hospitals.[7] Pope Pius X named James O'Reilly of Saint Paul as the second bishop of Fargo in December 1909.[8] At the same time, Pope Pius X moved all of western North Dakota from the Diocese of Fargo to the new Diocese of Bismarck.[3][9]

O'Reilly died in 1934 after 25 years as bishop.[10] The next bishop of Fargo was Aloisius Muench of Saint Paul, appointed by Pope Pius XI in 1935.[11] After World War II, Muench spent much of his time on Vatican assignments in West Germany while still serving as bishop of Fargo. While Muench was in Europe, Pope Pius XII appointed Bishop Leo Dworschak of the Diocese of Rapid City to serve as apostolic administrator in Fargo. In 1947, Pius XII named Dworschak as auxiliary bishop in Fargo. Muench resigned in 1959 as bishop of Fargo after being elevated to the rank of cardinal; Pope John XXIII in 1960 named Dworschak as Muench's replacement.[12]

1970 to present

After Dworschak retired in 1970, Pope Paul VI appointed Justin Driscoll, president of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, as the next bishop of Fargo.[13] Driscoll died in 1984.

To replace Driscoll, Pope John Paul II named Auxiliary Bishop James Sullivan of the Diocese of Lansing. During his tenure, Sullivan established the Fargo Catholic Schools Network and the Opening Doors, Opening Hearts evangelization program.[14] He improved the financial condition of the diocese and funded the Priest Pension Plan through the Shepherd's Care Campaign.[14] In 2001, John Paul II named Samuel J. Aquila of Denver as coadjutor bishop of the diocese to assist Sullivan. When Sullivan resigned in 2002, Aquila succeeded him.[15]

After Aquila was named archbishop of the Archdiocese of Denver in 2012, Pope Francis in 2013 named Monsignor John Folda of the Diocese of Lincoln to succeed him in Fargo. Folda, as of 2023, is the current bishop of Fargo.

Sex abuse

The diocese in 1998 removed Fernando Sayasaya from ministry at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Fargo after three teenage boys accused him of sexual abuse. Sayasaya went home to the Philippines in December 1998.[16] In December 2002, he was charged with gross sexual imposition.[17] The Vatican laicized Sayasaya in 2005. The Philippines ordered him extradited to the United States in 2010, but they were unable to apprehend him for seven years. In May 2018, after being transported to North Dakota, Sayasaya pleaded guilty to two counts of felony gross sexual imposition and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[18]

In a 2010 article, the Grand Forks Herald discussed a sexual abuse case it had originally reported in March 1994. A Grand Forks man had accused John Smythe, on assignment from Ireland in the Diocese of Fargo, of sexually assaulting him in 1981 in Langdon when the man was 12 years old. When contacted in 1994 by the Herald, the vicar general for the diocese said they had sent Smythe away for treatment. However, by later 1994, Smythe was in prison in Northern Ireland for sexually assaulting children there. Other alleged victims of Smythe in Langdon had come forward to the diocese in the meantime.[19]

In January 2020, the diocese published a list of 31 diocesan clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse of children, dating back to 1950.[20]

In July 2021, the diocese announced that the Diocese of Lansing had confirmed several credible sexual abuse allegations against Bishop Sullivan. While assigned to the Church of the Resurrection Parish in Lansing, Michigan, in the 1960s, Sullivan allegedly touched two young boys inappropriately and used sexual language with them.[21] After the announcement, the John Paul II Catholic Schools network in Fargo renamed Sullivan Middle School as Sacred Heart Middle School.[22]

Bishops

Bishop of Jamestown

John Shanley (1889–1909)

Bishops of Fargo

  1. John Shanley (1889–1909)
  2. James O'Reilly (1909–1934)
  3. Aloisius Joseph Muench (1935–1959), appointed Apostolic Nuncio and Titular Archbishop (elevated to Cardinal in 1959)
  4. Leo Ferdinand Dworschak (1960–1970)
  5. Justin Albert Driscoll (1970–1984)
  6. James Stephen Sullivan (1985–2002)
  7. Samuel Joseph Aquila (2002–2012), appointed Archbishop of Denver
  8. John Thomas Folda (2013–present)

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

Education

As of 2023, the Diocese of Fargo has one high school and 13 primary and middle schools.[23]

Schools

List of Catholic schools in the diocese
School Location Established Affiliation(s)
Primary and middle schools
Holy Family-St. Mary's Catholic School Grand Forks 2005
Holy Spirit Catholic Elementary School Fargo 1953
Nativity Elementary School Fargo 1961 Sisters of the Presentation of Mary (former)
St. Alphonsus School Langdon 1941
St. Ann's Native American Catholic Elementary School Belcourt 1999 Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity
St. Catherine Elementary School Valley City
St. John's Academy Jamestown
St. Joseph Catholic School Devils Lake 1957 Sisters of Mercy (former)
St. Michael's Catholic School Devils Lake 1916 Sisters of St. Joseph (former)
St. Therese the Little Flower Catholic Elementary School Rugby 1943
Sacred Heart Middle School Fargo
Secondary schools
Shanley High School Fargo 1882 De La Salle Christian Brothers (former)
Presentation Sisters (former)

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Diocese of Fargo
Notes
Arms was designed and adopted when the diocese was erected
Adopted
1897
Escutcheon
The background of the arms is a blue field. It contains a gold cross with a blue horseshoe. The background also displays a golden sheaf of wheat.
Symbolism
Blue and gold are the traditional colors of Mary, mother of Jesus. The horseshoe evokes William Fargo, founder of the pony express. The wheat sheaf honors the major crop of North Dakota, used to make the eucharist.

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Diocese of Fargo is a diocese of the catholic church of the Catholic Church.[24]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Diocese of Fargo — (FARGUS; FARGENSIS)

Diocese; suffragan of St. Paul, U.S.A., embracing the whole of the State of North Dakota, an area of 70,195 square miles. It was established in 1889.

The first Mass, in the territory now comprised in the Diocese of Fargo, was celebrated in Pembina, September, 1818, by Rev. Sévère Joseph Norbert Dumoulin, one of the two missionaries sent to the Selkirk colony by Bishop Plessis of Quebec. Father Cumoulin was born in Montreal, 5 Dec., 1793, ordained priest in the Nicolet Seminary, 23 Feb., 1817, left Quebec for the Selkirk colony, 19 May, 1818, and arrived at Fort Douglas (now St. Boniface, Manitoba), 16 July, 1818. In August, 1823, Father Dumoulin returned to Canada, where he died in 1853. The name of the diocese was originally Jamestown, which title was suppressed by the Holy See, 6 April, 1897, and changed to Fargo in accordance with the bishops request. At its formation the diocese contained a population of 19,000, of whom nearly 8000 were Indians and half-breeds. The population (1908) is about 70,000.

With the creation of the diocese the Rev. John Shanley was named its first bishop. He was born at Albion, New York, 4 Jan., 1852, and ordained priest 30 May, 1874, at Rome. His consecration as bishop took place at St. Paul, 27 Dec., 1889. There were then in the diocese 30 priests, 40 churches, an academy for girls, a hospital, and 3 parochial schools. There are now (1909) in the diocese a mitred abbot, 110 priests, 215 churches, 15 parochial schools, 4 Indian schools, 5 hospitals, an orphanage, a college for boys, and 6 academies for girls. In eighteen years the number of priests quadrupled and the number of churches more than quintupled.

The Benedictine Fathers have an abbey at Richardton, and a priory at Devils Lake, from which points they attend several missions. Connected with the Richardton Abbey is a college for boys. The Benedictine Sisters are in charge of several schools, and the Presentation Nuns in charge of schools and orphans. Other communities are: Sisters of Mercy (hospital and schools); Sisters of St. Joseph (hospitals and school); Sisters of Charity, or Grey Nuns (Indian school); Sisters of Mary of the Presentation (schools).

Diocesan records: Catholic Directory, 1909: Reuss, Biog. Encycl. Cath. Hierarchy U.S. (Milwaukee, 1898).

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Annuario Pontificio (2022) via Catholic-Hierarchy.org "Diocese of Fargo". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. March 29, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  2. Back to citation "Coat of Arms of Bishop John Folda".
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 "Diocese of Fargo". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. March 29, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  4. Back to citation Becklund, Scott. "The Making of Bishop Shanley", Fargo History Project, North Dakota State University
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Stelten, Leo. "History of the Diocese". Diocese of Fargo. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  6. Back to citation Brennan, Mary. "Bishop John Shanley". Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
  7. Back to citation Lounsberry, Clement Augusts. "Founding of the Catholic Church in North Dakota". Early History of North Dakota.
  8. Back to citation Pace, Edward A., ed. (1922). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. XVII. New York: The Encyclopedia Press, Inc.
  9. Back to citation "Diocese of Fargo". GCatholic. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  10. Back to citation "Bishop James O'Reilly". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  11. Back to citation "Aloisius Joseph Cardinal Muench [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  12. Back to citation Colman James, Colman James (1969). American Nuncio: Cardinal Aloisius Muench. Collegeville, Minnesota: Saint John's University Press. pp. xi.
  13. Back to citation "Bishop Justin Albert Driscoll". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 "Bishop James S. Sullivan dies June 12". New Earth. June 2006. Archived from the original on 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
  15. Back to citation "Archbishop Samuel Joseph Aquila [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  16. Back to citation Lee, Stephen J. (February 19, 2002). "Police Looking for Former Fargo Priest Sayasaya Accused of Sexual Abuse". Grand Forks Herald. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  17. Back to citation "Authorities Still Working to Bring Former Priest from Philippines". Associated Press. June 25, 2003. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  18. Back to citation "Priest Extradited from Philippines Pleads Guilty to 2 Counts". Cache Valley Daily. May 17, 2018. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  19. Back to citation "Priest in Irish church abuse scandal had ties to North Dakota parishes". Grand Forks Herald. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  20. Back to citation "North Dakota dioceses name 53 Catholic officials accused of sexually abusing children". Grand Forks Herald.
  21. Back to citation MIller, Matthew (2 July 2021). "Lansing Diocese: Accusations that ex-bishop sexually abused two boys are 'credible'". Fox 47 News. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  22. Back to citation "Sex abuse claims against ex-Fargo bishop credible, Sullivan Middle School renamed". KVRR Local News. 2021-07-02. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  23. Back to citation "Catholic Schools". Diocese of Fargo. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  24. Back to citation Diocese of Fargo, official website
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