Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw

During the 17th century, present-day Michigan was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec had jurisdiction over the region. In 1763, the Michigan area became part of the British Province of Quebec, forbidden from settlement by American colonists. After the American Revolution, the Michigan region became part of the new United States. For Catholics, Michigan was now under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which then comprised the entire country.

In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky, with jurisdiction over the new Michigan Territory. On June 19, 1821, the pope erected the Diocese of Cincinnati, taking the Michigan Territory from the Diocese of Bardstown.[1]

The writer Alexis de Tocqueville visited Saginaw in 1831. The northernmost point of his travels, Saginaw was considered a wilderness community of about 30 people, compared to Detroit which had 3,000 inhabitants. The Saginaw area contained no parishes at this time. Pope Gregory XVI formed the Diocese of Detroit on March 8, 1833, covering the entire Michigan Territory. Saginaw remained part of the Diocese of Detroit for the next 104 years.

Pope Pius XI formed the Diocese of Saginaw in 1938 out of 16 Michigan counties that he separated from the Diocese of Grand Rapids and the Archdiocese of Detroit. The pope appointed Monsignor William F. Murphy from the Archdiocese of Detroit as the first bishop of Saginaw.

The 1938 P.J. Kenedy Official Catholic Directory notes that the new diocese had a Catholic population of 77,705, with 81 parishes, 31 missions, 112 priests, 41 parishes with schools (of which 17 were high schools), two hospitals, a children's home and a residence for working girls.

Murphy purchased an episcopal residence and a chancery office, and appointed officials needed for the administration of the diocese: vicar-general, chancellor, deans of the four districts, secretary, marriage tribunal personnel. Early on the agenda was the formation of a Catholic Charities department, which was initially sponsored by a new League of Catholic Women. He also began a special seminary collection for the education of future priests, as well as a Clergy Benefit society to provide for retired and disabled priests.

For the large migrant and resident Spanish-speaking population, the bishop established the Guadalupe Clinic and the Mexican Apostolate, and for the elderly, the St. Francis Home.

On February 7, 1950, Murphy died. Pope Pius XII appointed Auxiliary Bishop Stephen S. Woznicki from the Archdiocese of Detroit as bishop of Saginaw on March 28, 1950.

In these years following World War II, the diocese underwent tremendous growth, with new parishes and missions. In 1956, the Capuchin Fathers agreed to erect Queen of Angels Retreat House to serve lay residents and priests of the area.

In 1956, Woznicki's advisors voted to establish a six-year boarding school for the high school and junior college years of seminarians. The official founding of St. Paul's Seminary took place in 1957, the same year that Reverend James A. Hickey was appointed its rector. In 1961, the seminary opened, but lack of vocations forced it to close in 1970. The building is now the diocesan headquarters and home to Nouvel Catholic Central High School.

Woznicki died in 1968, and was succeeded by Bishop Francis Reh, previously rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He was appointed in 1968 by Pope Paul VI.

Reh began to implement changes mandated by the Second Vatican Council in the Saginaw Diocese and established a Clergy Personnel Board to aid him in clergy assignments. A new tenure policy limited priests' assignments to nine years. The former four-deanery division of the diocese was multiplied into 12 vicariates. The time-honored tax quota system for diocesan support (employed by many dioceses) transformed into a Catholic Services Appeal directly to the people for their voluntary contributions. In 1975, Reh renovated and liturgically updated his Cathedral Church of St. Mary. He also established a Diocesan Pastoral Council of lay advisors to himself, as well as an advisory Senate of Priests. A Liturgy office, a Finance Board, Latin American Affairs department, Black Catholic Concerns department, and a Human Services Council were developed.

In 1971, Paul VI formed the new Diocese of Gaylord from the northern part of the Diocese of Saginaw. Although Clare County and Isabella County were added to the Diocese of Saginaw territory, the re-alignment reduced the diocese from 16 to 11 counties.

After Reh retired in 1980, Pope John Paul II appointed Kenneth E. Untener, rector of St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan, as the fourth bishop of Saginaw. In 1982, Untener initiated a Come Home program at Christmas time to invite alienated Catholics back to the church. He has also worked to re-establish the traditional practices of Lent. In the 1990s, established a commission for women, a diocesan Office for Stewardship and Development, a Catholic Schools Foundation, and a new Center for Ministry which is located next to the diocesan offices. Untener died of leukemia on March 27, 2004.[2]

In 2004, John Paul II appointed Bishop Robert J. Carlson of the Diocese of Sioux Falls as the fifth bishop of Saginaw. Carlson emphasized vocations, liturgical renewal, and evangelization within the diocese. The number of seminarians increased from four in 2004, to 12 in 2005, and to 19 in 2006.[3] The first permanent deacon in over 25 years was ordained in August 2006,[4] and two men were ordained to the transitional diaconate in November 2006. The diocese has also implemented a series of Saint Andrew dinners to invite young men to an informal meal and discussion on vocations.

In 2006 Carlson promulgated the letter "We Have Come to Worship Him" outlining liturgical directives and norms for the renewal of worship in the diocese. A month later, the Ablaze Youth Conference was held in Standish, Michigan, with several hundred young people in attendance. In 2007 the diocese began an evangelization initiative to reach out to all families in the diocese through the Faith Saginaw magazine,[5] sent a group of 230 people to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.,[6] and held a four-day Eucharistic Congress that summer which included the ordination of two men to the priesthood, and five men to the transitional diaconate.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Carlson as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and named Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Cistone, of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw.[7] Cistone served until his death from lung cancer on October 16, 2018.[8] Pope Francis appointed Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Rapid City as his replacement. Cruss is the current bishop of Saginaw.

Early in 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, Bishop Gruss suspended mass throughout the diocese to prevent the spread of the virus. Gruss switched over to broadcasting Mass from the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption via WNEM TV 5 and other Saginaw news outlets. Later on, Gruss permitted mass to resume across the diocese, but restricted some pew areas to maintain social distancing, disabled the baptismal fonts when not being used for baptisms, and reduced the number of communion stations. Face masks were mandated and hand sanitizer was provided in the churches.

By the summer of 2021, the diocese permitted parishioners who had received COVID-19 vaccination to attend mass without masks. The baptismal font was restarted and pews were opened up. However, drinking fountains were disabled, mandatory hand sanitizer stations maintained, masks for the non-vaccinated remained, and the suspension of altar servers. In autumn 2021, altar servers were permitted to assist the pastor again, communion stations were returned to their original pre-pandemic settings, minus the serving of the chalices containing the Blood of Christ, and pews still cordoned off were opened up again.

1. William Francis Murphy (1938-1950†)
2. Stephen Stanislaus Woznicki (1950-1968, retired †)
3. Francis Frederick Reh (1968-1980, retired †)
4. Kenneth Edward Untener (1980-2004†)
5. Robert James Carlson (2005-2009), appointed Archbishop of Saint Louis
6. Joseph Robert Cistone (2009-2018†)
7. Robert Dwayne Gruss (2019-)

• James Aloysius Hickey (1967-1974), appointed Bishop of Cleveland and later Archbishop of Washington (elevated to Cardinal in 1988) †

• Kenneth Joseph Povish, appointed Bishop of Crookston in 1970 and later Bishop of Lansing
• James A. Hickey, appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington
• Joseph Victor Adamec, appointed Bishop of Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.