Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas

The Catholic history of Dallas began long before the formal creation of the diocese. The city of Dallas was settled by people from Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, as well as foreign immigrants and African-Americans.[4] The Catholic population, however, was not considerable: as late as 1868 there was only one Catholic family living in the area. The members of this family were ministered to by priests from an Irish Catholic settlement, St. Paul, in Collin County. Father Joseph Martinere, later a domestic prelate and vicar general of the diocese, often made journeys of over hundreds of miles through swamp and forest to reach the area.[4]

Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Dallas on July 15, 1890, taking its territory from the Diocese of Galveston.[5][6] The Diocese of Dallas included most of the state of Texas. He appointed Monsignor Thomas Brennan of the Diocese of Erie as the first bishop of the new diocese.[4] Wanting to retire the diocesan debt, Brennan tried to use the Ursuline Academy of Dallas as collateral property to the banks for better financing. However, the Ursuline Sisters objected, saying that the property belonged to them, not the diocese. Brennan then tried to change the Ursuline Order constitution to allow him to get the Academy property, but failed.[7]

Some priests and laity in the diocese said that Brennan was embezzling diocese funds for his personal use.[7] The Texas Catholic was accused by Brennan's priests of being a publication "whose sole reason for existence seemed to be...to praise the bishop and his vicar general."[8] Brennan lobbied for the Diocese of Dallas to be raised to the rank of an archdiocese.[9] In a letter pleading his cause to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, he argued for Dallas' elevation over the predominantly Hispanic Diocese of San Antonio, saying that elevating San Antonio would lead to the "foreignization of the Southwest."[10]

By July 1892, Brennan's metropolitan superior, Archbishop Francis Janssens of New Orleans, had concluded that Brennan was "an impudent letter writer". Janssens also noted that within his diocese "there are signs of much dissatisfaction on account of the arbitrary and uncanonical actions of the Bishop."[10] During an 1892 visit to the Vatican, Leo XXIII forced Brennan to resign as bishop in Dallas. At the time of his resignation, the Catholic population of the diocese had grown to 15,000 served by 30 priests.[4]

Leo XXIII named Reverend Edward Dunne from the Diocese of Chicago as the second bishop of Dallas in 1894. Dunne completed the construction of the diocesan cathedral, which was described as "admittedly the finest in the South-Western States".[4] Dunne also opened Holy Trinity College.[11] He established St. Paul Sanitarium[12] [13] in Dallas and St. Anthony's Sanitarium in Amarillo.[14] By 1908, the diocese had 83 priests serving an estimated Catholic population of 60,000.[4][5] When Dunn died in 1910, the number of churches had increased from 28 to 90.[14]

Reverend Joseph Lynch was the third bishop of the diocese, named by Pope Pius X in 1911. During the Mexican Revolution, Lynch became an advocate on behalf of Mexican refugees displaced to Dallas.[15] In 1914, the Vatican erected the Diocese of El Paso in West Texas. He erected a mission church for Mexican Americans in 1915.[16]

In 1926, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Amarillo, taking the Texas Panhandle region from the Diocese of Dallas. Lynch built a segregated church for African American Catholics at Fort Worth in 1929.[17] Bishop Thomas Gorman from the Diocese of Reno was named coadjutor bishop in Dallas by Pope Pius XII in 1952 to assist Lynch. In 1953, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Austin in central Texas and renamed the Diocese of Dallas as the Diocese of Dallas–Fort Worth.[11]

When Lynch died in 1954, after 43 years as bishop, the diocese had over 200 religious and charitable institutions founded by him.[18] During his episcopacy, the Catholic population in the diocese increased from 20,000 to 125,000, over 100 priests were ordained and 150 churches were established with 108 parishes.[19]

After Lynch's death, Gorman automatically succeeded him as bishop of the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth. Gorman revived the Texas Catholic newspaper, which had been suspended since 1894. He constructed 25 parochial schools and erected 20 new parishes.[11] The diocese returned to its former name with the creation of the Diocese of Fort Worth on August 9, 1969.[6]

Under the next bishop, Thomas Tschoepe, the diocese lost territory to the Diocese of Tyler in 1989, but during the tenure of the next bishop, Charles Grahmann, the Catholic population of the diocese expanded from 200,000 to nearly a million between 1990 and 2007.

The next bishop of Dallas was Kevin Farrell, appointed on March 6, 2007, and installed on May 1, 2007.[11] In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named J. Douglas Deshotel and Mark J. Seitz as auxiliary bishops of the diocese.[20] Deshotel later became the Bishop of Lafayette in Louisiana[21] while Seitz became the Bishop of El Paso.[22] Gregory Kelly became the next auxiliary bishop in 2016.[23] Later in 2016, Bishop Farrell was named the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.[24] His move to the Vatican left the diocese without a bishop until Pope Francis named Diocese of Juneau Bishop Edward J. Burns as the new bishop.

In 1993, the Diocese of Dallas was sued by eight men and the family of a ninth man who had committed suicide. The plaintiffs said they were abused as altar boys by Reverend Rudolph Kos, a diocesan priest who served in several parishes. In April 1992, a therapist had told diocese officials that Kos was a "classic textbook pedophile".[25] Kos was allowed to remain in ministry and abused another child 11 months later. Bishop Charles Grahmann testified in 1997 that he had never read the therapist's report[26] and allowed Kos to continue his ministry. In 1997, a jury awarded $120 million to the nine plaintiffs.[27] In 1998, Kos was convicted of three counts of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison.[28] The diocese appealed the civil lawsuit, but agreed to settle it in 1998, paying $23.4 million to the plaintiffs.[29] Grahmann made this statement:

"To the victims and their families, I once again want to apologize on behalf of the diocese. Based on what we know now, the decisions made concerning Rudy Kos were errors in human judgment. I regret very much what happened, and I am deeply sorry for your pain."[29]

In April 2020, the diocese announced the removal of Reverend Oscar Mora, a priest from the Archdiocese of Villavicencio, from ministry in Dallas.[30] The archdiocese had informed the diocese that Mora was facing sexual abuse allegations in Colombia.[30]

1. Thomas Francis Brennan (1890–1892)
2. Edward Joseph Dunne (1893–1910)
3. Joseph Patrick Lynch (1911–1954)

1. Joseph Patrick Lynch (1911–1954)
2. Thomas Kiely Gorman (1954–1969)

1. Thomas Kiely Gorman (1954–1969)
2. Thomas Ambrose Tschoepe (1969–1990)
3. Charles Victor Grahmann (1990–2007)
4. Kevin Farrell (2007–2016), appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life (elevated to cardinal in 2016)
5. Edward James Burns (2017–present)

• Thomas Kiely Gorman (1952–1954)
• Charles Victor Grahmann (1989–1990)
• Joseph Anthony Galante (1999–2004), did not succeed to the see; appointed Bishop of Camden

• Augustine Danglmayr (1942–1969)
• John Joseph Cassata (1968–1969), appointed Bishop of Fort Worth
• Mark J. Seitz (2010–2013), appointed Bishop of El Paso
• J. Douglas Deshotel (2010–2016), appointed Bishop of Lafayette
• John Gregory Kelly (2016–present)

• Rudolph Aloysius Gerken, appointed Bishop of Amarillo in 1926 and later Archbishop of Santa Fe
• Wendelin Joseph Nold, appointed Coadjutor Bishop (in 1947) and later Bishop of Galveston-Houston
• Lawrence Michael De Falco, appointed Bishop of Amarillo in 1963
• Michael Jarboe Sheehan, appointed Bishop of Lubbock in 1983
• David Eugene Fellhauer, appointed Bishop of Victoria in 1990
• Michael Gerard Duca, appointed Bishop of Shreveport in 2008 and later Bishop of Baton Rouge
• Joseph Edward Strickland (priest here, 1985–1987), appointed Bishop of Tyler in 2012
• Robert Milner Coerver, appointed Bishop of Lubbock in 2016

• Holy Trinity Seminary – Irving
• Redemptorist Mater Seminary – Dallas

• Newman Catholic Ministry – University of Texas at Dallas
• SMU Catholic Campus Ministry – Southern Methodist University
• Catholic Student Organization – Texas A&M University-Commerce
• University of Dallas Campus Ministry – University of Dallas
• Catholic Student Organization – Austin College

• Bishop Dunne Catholic School – Dallas
• Bishop Lynch High School – Dallas
• John Paul II High School – Plano[33]
• Notre Dame School of Dallas – (special education), Dallas

• Cistercian Preparatory School – Irving
• Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep – Dalla
• Dallas Jesuit High School – Dallas
• The Highlands School – Irving
• Ursuline Academy of Dallas – Dallas