Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet

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Diocese of Joliet in Illinois

Diœcesis Joliettensis in Illinois
Catholic
Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus
Coat of arms
Location
CountryUnited States
Ecclesiastical provinceChicago
MetropolitanChicago
HeadquartersCrest Hill, Illinois
Coordinates41°34′59″N 88°07′14″W / 41.58301270°N 88.12043910°W / 41.58301270; -88.12043910
Statistics
Area4,218 sq mi (10,920 km2)
Population
  • Total
  • Catholics
  • (as of 2023)
  • 1,961,747
  • 520,148[1] (26.5%)
Parishes117[1]
Schools52
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedDecember 11, 1948 (77 years ago)
CathedralCathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus
Patron saintSt. Francis Xavier
Current leadership
PopeLeo XIV
BishopSede vacante
Metropolitan ArchbishopBlase J. Cupich
Auxiliary BishopsDennis E. Spies
Apostolic AdministratorDennis E. Spies
Bishops emeritusR. Daniel Conlon
Map
Website
diojoliet.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Diocese of Joliet in Illinois (Latin: Diœcesis Joliettensis in Illinois) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Illinois in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Chicago. It was created in 1948, branching from the Archdiocese of Chicago. The mother church of the diocese is the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet. The diocese is currently a vacant see.

Territory

The Diocese of Joliet in Illinois comprises the City of Joliet and its surrounding counties: DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, Kendall and Will.[2]

History

Early history

During the seventeenth century, present day Illinois was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec, which had jurisdiction over the colony, sent numerous French missionaries to the region. After the British took control of New France in 1763, the Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction in the Illinois area. In 1776, the new United States claimed sovereignty over the area of Illinois. After the American Revolution ended in 1783, Pope Pius VI erected in 1784 the Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, encompassing the entire territory of the new nation.[3] In 1785, Bishop John Carroll sent his first missionary to Illinois. Pius VI created the Diocese of Baltimore, the first diocese in the United States, to replace the prefecture apostolic in 1789.[4][5]

With the creation of the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky in 1810, supervision of the Illinois missions shifted there.[3] In 1827, the new bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis assumed jurisdiction in the western half of the new state of Illinois.[6] In 1834, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Vincennes, which included both Indiana and eastern Illinois.[7] With the creation of the Diocese of Chicago in 1843, all of Illinois was transferred there from the Dioceses of St. Louis and Vincennes.[8]

The construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in northeast Illinois during the 1830s and 1840s attracted many Irish Catholic immigrants into the Joliet area. The Diocese of Chicago assigned the priest John Plunkett to minister to the workers there. He established St. Patrick Church in 1838, the first church in the Joliet area.[9]The first Catholic parish in DuPage County was St. Raphael’s, founded in 1846 in Napierville. Today it is Saints Peter and Paul Parish.[10]

With the industrialization of Illinois and the emergence of Chicago as an important center of commerce, more Catholic immigrants moved into northern Illinois. The Diocese of Chicago was forced to build new churches and missions in the Joliet area. In Kankakee, the pastor of St. Rose Parish founded the Emergency Hospital in 1897, the first one in that town. Today it is Ascension St. Mary of Kankakee Hospital.[11]

In 1920, the Sisters of Saint Francis of Mary Immaculate founded New College in Joliet. It is now the University of Saint Francis.[9]St. Joan of Arc Parish was founded in Lisle in 1924.[12]

Diocese of Joliet in Illinois

In 1948, Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois, removing its territory from the Archdiocese of Chicago, to meet the demands of the exponential growth of Catholicism in the region. He named Martin McNamara of Chicago as the first bishop.[13] McNamara selected St. Raymond's Church in Joliet as the cathedral for the new diocese. However, by 1950 the 540-seat cathedral had proven inadequate for the needs of the diocese. McNamara began planning a new facility. He consecrated the new Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus on May 26, 1955.[14]

In 1965, Pope Paul VI appointed Romeo Blanchette of Chicago as an auxiliary bishop in Joliet.[15]After McNamara died in 1966, Paul VI appointed Blanchette as the second bishop of Joliet in Illinois. In 1974, Blanchette authorized the establishment of the National Shrine of Mary Immaculate Queen of the Universe at St. Pius X Church in Lombard. This was the first such shrine in the United States.[16] He retired as bishop of Joliet in 1979.[15]

Blanchette's replacement, Auxiliary Joseph Imesch of the Archdiocese of Detroit, was named by Pope John Paul II.[17] He was devoted to caring for the homeless. He launched the first Diocesan Annual Appeal in 1986[18]

In 1987, the Carmelite Order opened the National Shrine and Museum of Saint Thérèse in Darien. [19]Thérèse of Lisieux was a 19th century French nun who became popular for her advice on achieving spirtuality.[20] The Shrine had originally been housed in a Chicago church, but was moved after a fire there in 1975.[19]

In 1996, Imesch founded the Catholic Education Foundation, dedicated to providing scholarships to catholic schools in the diocese.[21] Imesch started a partnership with the Diocese of Sucre in Bolivia, helping build and staff a hospital there.[18]

With Imesch's retirement in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop J. Peter Sartain of the Diocese of Little Rock as the next bishop of Joliet. Four years later, Benedict XVI appointed him as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle.[22] Sartain's replacement in 2011 was Bishop Robert Conlon of the Diocese of Steubenville. Conlon took a medical leave in 2019 and then resigned as bishop of Joliet the next year.[23] In 2020 Pope Francis appointed Auxiliary Bishop Ronald Aldon Hicks of Chicago as the next bishop of Joliet. He served until January 11th, 2026 when Pope Leo XIV appointed him as the next archbishop of New York. [24]

In February 2024, the diocese announced that it would close five churches and two schools . Hicks cited the aging of parish facilities, the diminishing number of priests, and the financial health of the parishes.[25] In 2025, the diocese announced the closure of five more churches.[26]

Reports of sex abuse

Alejandro Flores, a priest at Holy Family Church in Shorewood, was accused in January 2010 of sexually abusing a ten-year-old, while Flores was a seminarian. A few days after learning of the accusation, Flores attempted suicide.[27] He pleaded guilty in September 2010 to one count of criminal sexual assault. After his release from prison in 2013, Flores was deported to Bolivia.[28] He was laicized in 2020.[29]

In September 2012, Bishop Conlon reinstated F. Lee Ryan, a diocesan priest, to ministry and assigned him to serve homebound parishioners. The diocese had suspended Ryan in 2010 from ministry in Crescent City after determining a sexual abuse allegation against him from the 1970s was credible. According to The Huffington Post, Conlon ruled that since child molestation was not a serious crime under canon law in the 1970s, the diocese could only limit Ryan in ministry and not remove him completely.[30] Conlon soon changed his mind and permanently removed Ryan from ministry that same month.[31]

In a 2015 lawsuit brought against the diocese by 14 sexual abuse victims, it was revealed that Bishop Blanchette ignored the inappropriate behavior of certain seminarians, allowing them to be ordained as priests for the diocese. Lawrence Gibbs was ordained in 1973 after being expelled from Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. Bishop Imesch later transferred him to another diocese, and Gibbs left the priesthood in the 1990s.[32] Blanchette also allowed James Nowak to be ordained after the Capuchin Order had dismissed him. In 2012, the diocese received allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Nowak, then assigned to Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Naperville.[33] The diocese immediately removed him from ministry. It was later determined that Nowak had abused eight children.[34][35] In April 2015, the diocese settled with the 14 sex abuse victims, including those of Nowak and Gibbs, for over $4 million.[36]

A list released by the diocese in August 2018 revealed the names of 35 clergy who served in the diocese during a 70-year period and were credibly accused of sex abuse.[37] That same month, the diocese announced that it had agreed to pay $1.4 million to two brothers and another male who said they had been sexually abused by Leonardo Mateo during the early 1980s.[38] After the diocese started receiving complaints about Mateo in 1991, he admitted some guilt. The diocese removed him from ministry, and Mateo returned to his native Philippines.[39]

In October 2019, Conlon and the diocese were named in a $100,000 sexual abuse lawsuit. The plaintiff was Barry Lowy, the legal guardian of the victim, a developmentally disabled man at Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee. The assailant was the priest Richard Jacklin, who was convicted of sexual assault in 2022 and in January 2023 was sentenced to 18 years in prison.[40]

Attorney General's report

On May 23, 2023, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul released a report on child sex abuse by Catholic clergy in Illinois. The multi-year investigation claimed that more than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950.[41][42]

The report's harshest criticism was aimed at the Diocese of Joliet. It reported that Bishop Imesch insisted on an "off-the-books" approach to abusers, with the result that survivors of abuse had a harder time getting justice. Imesch "covered up abuse by shipping off priests to unsuspecting parishes". He was disparaging and dismissive of the investigation, blaming others for his own organization's failures. Although Imesch has been replaced, the report was critical of the "concentration of power" within the diocese, making accountability difficult.[43]

The Attorney General's report notes that the diocese instituted its first written policies against child sexual abuse in 1990, well before some other dioceses in the state, and that it employed a victims assistance coordinator. In spite of this, the report found, "the diocese adheres to unwritten rules for survivors reporting abuse that stall investigations and prevent the review board from making findings."[44]

Bishops

Bishop Hicks (2024)

Bishops of Joliet in Illinois

  1. Martin Dewey McNamara (Dec 17, 1948 – May 23, 1966)
  2. Romeo Roy Blanchette (Jul 19, 1966 – Jan 30, 1979)
  3. Joseph Leopold Imesch (Jun 30, 1979 – May 16, 2006)
  4. James Peter Sartain (May 16, 2006 – Sep 16, 2010), appointed Archbishop of Seattle[45]
  5. Robert Daniel Conlon (May 17, 2011 – May 4, 2020)
  6. Ronald A. Hicks (July 17, 2020 – December 18, 2025), appointed Archbishop of New York[46]

Auxiliary bishops

Apostolic administrators

Major churches

High schools

References

  1. "Facts and Figures".
  2. "About Us: Statistics". Diocese of Joliet. Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  3. "Baltimore (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  4. "Our History". Archdiocese of Baltimore. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  5. "Freedom of Religion Comes to Boston | Archdiocese of Boston". www.bostoncatholic.org. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  6. "Saint Louis (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  7. Thompson, Joseph J. (1927). "Diocese of Springfield in Illinois; diamond jubilee history" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  8. "Chicago (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  9. "The USF Centennial". University of St. Francis. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  10. "History of Our Church". Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  11. "St. Mary's Hospital/Emergency Hospital of Kankakee County". Kankakee County Museum. March 21, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  12. "Parish History - St. Joan of Arc, Lisle, IL". St. Joan of Arc Church. June 17, 2025. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  13. "Joliet in Illinois (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  14. "History of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois". Diocese of Joliet. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  15. "Bishop Romeo Roy Blanchette [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  16. "St. Pius X". Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  17. "Bishop Joseph Leopold Imesch [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  18. "The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois". www.dioceseofjoliet.org. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  19. "About the National Shrine and Museum of St. Thérèse". Society of the Little Flower - US. Archived from the original on April 28, 2026. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  20. Flinn, Frank K. (2007). Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8160-7565-2.
  21. "About Us". Catholic Education Foundation. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  22. "Archbishop James Peter Sartain [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  23. "Bishop Robert Daniel Conlon [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  24. "Archbishop Ronald Aldon Hicks [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  25. "Cash-strapped Joliet diocese announces closure of Catholic churches, schools". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  26. "Diocese of Joliet announces next wave of church closures, mergers". Shaw Local. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  27. Lutz, B. J. (January 7, 2010). "Bishop "Saddened" Over Priest's Apparent Suicide Attempt". NBC Chicago. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  28. "Pedophile Priest Deported to Bolivia". NBC Chicago. August 8, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  29. "Alejandro Flores | Information". clergyreport.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  30. "Reverend Reinstated Despite Previous Molestation Charge". HuffPost. September 13, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  31. "Bishop Changes Mind on Letting Suspect Priest Minister". Joliet, IL Patch. September 19, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  32. "Bishop was warned about priest". Chicago Tribune. June 22, 2002. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  33. "Naperville priest investigated". Retrieved July 6, 2023 – via PressReader.
  34. "Joliet Diocese Settles Victims' Abuse Claims Against 'Savage, Scary' Priests for Over $4M". Plainfield, IL Patch. April 15, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  35. "Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet Settles Claims of 14 Individuals Who Were Abused by Priests – Illinois Child Sex Abuse Attorneys". April 15, 2015. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  36. "Joliet Diocese settles alleged sex abuse cases with more than $4M". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  37. "35 Joliet Area Priests Had 'Credible' Child Sex Abuse Allegations". August 20, 2018. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  38. "$1.4 million settlement reached between Joliet Diocese, 3 men who allege priest sexually abused them in '80s". Chicago Tribune. August 31, 2018. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  39. "Father Leonardo Mateo" (PDF). Bishop Accountability. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  40. Pérez, Adriana (February 12, 2023). "Priest sentenced to 18 years in prison for sexually assaulting resident at Kankakee developmental center". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  41. "Report On Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse In Illinois 2023". Office of the Attorney General - State of Illinois. May 23, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  42. Foody, Kathleen; Tarm, Michael (May 23, 2023). "Catholic clergy sexually abused Illinois kids far more often than church acknowledged, state finds". AP News. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  43. D'Onofrio, Jessica; Goudie, Chuck; Nagy, Liz; Markoff, Barb; Tressel, Christine (May 23, 2023). "Child sex abuse by Illinois Catholic clergy spans state and decades, AG investigation finds". ABC7 Eyewitness News.
  44. Report on Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse in Illinois (PDF) (Report). Office of the Illinois Attorney General. 2023. p. 320.
  45. "Most Reverend J. Peter Sartain". Diocese of Joliet. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  46. "Bishops who have served the Joliet Diocese". Diocese of Joliet. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  47. Harris, Elise (October 18, 2017). "Pope taps Joliet auxiliary to head Evansville diocese". Catholic News Agency. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  48. "National Shrine and Museum of St. Thérèse". Society of the Little Flower - US. Archived from the original on June 3, 2026. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  49. "Nondiocesan-operated Catholic Schools". Diocese of Joliet. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  50. "High Schools". Diocese of Joliet. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  51. "Chesterton Academy of the Holy Family". Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.