Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary

During the 17th century, present day Indiana was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec, which had jurisdiction over the colony, sent French missionaries to the region. The first French Jesuit missionaries came to the Vincennes area around 1675. Historical records show that a Father Mermet arrived in Vincennes around 1712, but the length of his visit is unknown.[3] The oldest Catholic Church in Vincennes is St. Francis Xavier. established around 1732.[4]

After the British took control of New France in 1763, the Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction in the Indiana area. In 1776, the new United States claimed sovereignty over the area of Indiana. In 1787, Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory of the United States.

With the creation of the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky in 1810, supervision of the Indiana Territory shifted there. In 1827, the bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis assumed jurisdiction in the new state of Indiana. In 1834, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Vincennes, which included both Indiana and Illinois. Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Fort Wayne for Indiana only in 1857, including the Gary area. Gary would remain part of this diocese for the next 100 years.

During the first half of the 20th century, many Catholic immigrants arrived in Indiana from Eastern Europe and Mexico to work in the region's growing steel industry.[5] The Vatican founded several native language parishes near the steel mills to accommodate these immigrants.

In 1956, Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Gary, removing Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke Counties from the Diocese of Fort Wayne. He named Reverend Andrew Grutka of the Diocese of Fort Wayne as the first bishop of Gary. Grutka selected Holy Angels church as his cathedral, renaming it as the Cathedral of the Holy Angels. The new diocese had 129 active diocesan priests, 77 parishes, 60 parish schools and 135,485 Catholics, about 25 percent of the population of the four counties. Grutka retired in 1984.

Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop Norbert Gaughan of the Diocese of Greensburg as the second bishop of Gary in 1984. During his tenure as bishop, Gaughan ordained ordained 13 priests for service to the diocese and started a diocesan newspaper, the Northwest Indiana Catholic. In 1986, he established the Catholic Services Appeal. Gaughan created the “We Can Change the Future” program for the creation of pastoral councils.[6] After Gaughan suffered a stroke, the pope named Auxiliary Bishop Dale Melczek of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1995 as coadjutor bishop to assist Gaughan.[7] When Gaughan retired in 1996, Melczek automatically became bishop of Gary.

In 2002, Melczek published his first pastoral letter, “The Many Faces of Our Church:  a Pastoral Letter on Cultural Diversity” to discuss the contributions of different races and cultural groups to the Catholic church. Melczek followed up the next year with the pastoral letter “Created in God’s Image:  a Pastoral Letter on the Sin of Racism and a Call to Conversion.”[8]

After Melczek retired in 2013, Pope Francis in 2014 appointed Gary Bishop Donald J. Hying of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as the next bishop of Gary. In 2016, Hying call the first synod in Gary with the publication of his pastoral letter, “Go, Therefore, and Make Disciples of All Nations” . He began an initiative in 2017 to focus on evangelization, vocations and other topics within the diocese.[9]

In 2019, Pope Francis named Hying bishop of the Diocese of Madison. On November 26, 2019, Pope Francis appointed Reverend Robert McClory of the Archdiocese of Detroit to succeed Hying.[10][11][12]McClory is the current bishop of the Diocese of Gary.

In 2003, Bishop Melczek petitioned Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in Rome to laicize Richard Emerson, a diocesan priest. Emerson first served in the Diocese of Gary starting in 1978, then moved in 1986 to the Diocese of Orlando as a temporary assignment close to his parents. In 1991, Orlando Bishop Norbert Dorsey requested Emerson's transfer back to Gary, where Emerson resumed ministry. Multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior were generated from Emerson's assignments in Florida and Indiana.[13][14]

On December 22, 2003, Melczek removed Monsignor Don Grass from ministry after he admitted sexually abusing a minor. It happened while Grass was assigned to Cathedral of the Holy Angels Parish in Gary during the late 1960's.[15]

On January 15, 2005, Melczek and the diocese were named in a lawsuit by an Orlando man. The plaintiff stated that Emerson had sexually abused him as a minor during the late 1980's and early 1990's when Emerson was posted at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Orlando. The lawsuit claimed that the diocese and Melczek ignored earlier sexual abuse allegations against Emerson during his first stay in Indiana.[16] At his request, Emerson was removed from the priesthood in 2006.[13] On July 7, 2010, Melczek and the diocese were sued again, based on allegations by a different man in Orlando against Emerson.[17]

• Carl Frederick Mengeling, appointed fourth Bishop of Lansing (served as diocesan bishop from November 7, 1995 until his retirement on February 27, 2008).

The parishes run the following elementary and middle schools:

• St. Patrick, Chesterton[22]
• St. Mary Catholic Community School, Crown Point[23]
• St. Stanislaus, East Chicago
• St. Mary, Griffith[24]
• St. Casimir, Hammond
• St. John Bosco, Hammond[25]
• Our Lady of Grace, Highland[26]
• Aquinas School at St. Andrew's, Merrillville
• Notre Dame, Michigan City[27]
• Queen of All Saints, Michigan City[28]
• St. Stanislaus Kostka, Michigan City
• St. Thomas More, Munster[29]
• Nativity of Our Savior, Portage[30]
• St. John the Evangelist, St. John[31]
• St. Michael, Schererville[32]
• St. Paul Catholic, Valparaiso[33]
• St. John the Baptist, Whiting[34]

St. Catherine of Siena, a Catholic elementary school in Hammond, opened prior to 1949. Prior to 2009 its enrollment had declined, with 130 students that year, and its financial state had deteriorated. The school closed in 2009.[35]

• Bishop Noll Institute,[36] Hammond
• Andrean High School,[37] Merrillville
• Marquette Catholic High School,[38] Michigan City

• Sacred Heart Apostolic School, Rolling Prairie
• La Lumiere School, La Porte

• Calumet College of St. Joseph,[39] Whiting