Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno

Diocese of Fresno Dioecesis Fresnensis
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Counties of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mariposa, and Tulare
Ecclesiastical province	Los Angeles
Metropolitan	Fresno, California
Population - Catholics	581,000[1]
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	October 6, 1967[1]
Cathedral	St. John's Cathedral
Patron saint	St. Therese of Lisieux
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Bishop	vacant
Metropolitan Archbishop	José Gómez Archbishop of Los Angeles
Map
Website
dioceseoffresno.org

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is a particular church of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the western region (XI) of the United States, in the State of California. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Geographically, the diocese consists of 35,239 square miles (91,270 km²) of the Southern San Joaquin Valley of California, a portion of the Sierra Nevada and some eastern valleys. The diocese consists of all of the Counties of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare. The total population of the diocesan region is about 2.4 million inhabitants, of whom 581,000 were Catholic as of 2004. For administrative purposes the diocese is sub-divided into five deaneries: Fresno City, Fresno (rural), Tulare/Kings, Kern/Inyo, and Merced/Mariposa.

The see was created in 1967 by splitting the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno into two sees. Historically the area of the current diocese belonged to the Dioceses of Guadalajara, Durango, Sonora, Californias, Monterey, Monterey-Los Angeles, and lastly Monterey-Fresno. Timothy Manning (first Bishop of Fresno) and Roger Mahony (Auxiliary Bishop) have both served in the diocese.

The most recent ordinary, John Thomas Steinbock, was appointed the fourth Bishop of Fresno on October 15, 1991, taking over from Apostolic Administrator Most Rev. Norman McFarland, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. He served in that position until his death in early December 2010. Since 1922 the diocesan see has been in the City of Fresno with the cathedra remaining at St. John's Cathedral (which also served as the seat of the former Diocese of Monterey-Fresno). The diocese maintains 86 parishes, several charities, two high schools, numerous elementary schools, a small newspaper, television station (KNXT), retreat center and several cemeteries.

In 2003, the Diocese of Fresno was one of only four Latin Rite dioceses in the United States that did not participate in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops review of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.^[2] However progress in the area of protecting youth was strongly apparent by 2005.

Bishops of the Diocese of Fresno

• Timothy Manning (16 Oct 1967 - 26 May 1969)
• Hugh Aloysius Donohoe (22 Aug 1969 - 1 Jul 1980 )
• José de Jesús Madera Uribe (1 Jul 1980 - 28 May 1991)
• John Thomas Steinbock (15 Oct 1991 - 5 Dec 2010)

Schools

Main article: List of schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno

Parishes

Main article: List of parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Catholic-Hierarchy.org". http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dfres.html. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
2. ^ http://www.nccbuscc.org/ocyp/audit2003/sectionone.htm#6

External links

• Diocese of Fresno official website