Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Metropolitan Archdiocese of Washington Archidiœcesis Metropolitae Vashingtonensis
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
Coat of arms
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Washington, D.C. and Montgomery, Prince George's, St. Mary's, Calvert, and Charles counties in Maryland
Ecclesiastical province	Washington, D.C.
Headquarters	Hyattsville, Maryland, U.S.
Statistics
Area	2,104 sq mi (5,450 km²)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2017) 2,980,005 655,601 (22.0%)
Parishes	139
Schools	93
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	July 29, 1939 (85 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
Patron saint	Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
Secular priests	262
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Wilton Daniel Gregory
Auxiliary Bishops	Roy Edward Campbell Juan Esposito-Garcia Evelio Menjivar-Ayala
Emeritus Bishops	Donald William Wuerl
Map

Archdiocese of Washington masthead

The Archdiocese of Washington (Latin: Archidiœcesis Metropolitae Vashingtonensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church for the District of Columbia and several Maryland counties in the United States.

The Archdiocese of Washington is home to the Catholic University of America and Georgetown University. The archdiocese is also home to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The only suffragan diocese of the archdiocese is the Diocese of Saint Thomas.

The mother church of the archdiocese is the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in downtown Washington. As of 2023, Wilton Gregory is the archbishop of Washington.

Territory

The Archdiocese of Washington encompasses the District of Columbia and the following counties in Maryland:

History

17th century

In the 17th century, the present day District of Columbia was part of the British Province of Maryland. Unlike the other American colonies, Maryland had been settled by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, as a haven for Catholic refugees from Great Britain.

On March 25, 1634, the first Catholic Mass in the English-speaking colonies was celebrated by Andrew White on St. Clement's Island in Maryland. Due to immigration, by 1660 the population of Maryland had gradually become predominantly Protestant. Political power remained concentrated in the hands of the largely Catholic elite. In 1649, Maryland passed the Maryland Toleration Act, mandating religious tolerance for trinitarian Christians. It was the first law requiring religious tolerance in the English North American colonies.

In 1689, a group of Puritans, now the majority in the colony, successfully revolted against the colonial government, which had been controlled by the Catholic elite. After gaining power, the Puritans exacted restrictions on Catholics in the colony. To celebrate Mass, Catholics had to set up private chapels in their homes.

18th century

In 1704, the colonial assembly passed a law prohibiting Catholics from holding political office. After the American Revolution ended in 1781, the Vatican needed to move American Catholics out of the jurisdiction of the Diocese of London. In 1784, the pope established the Prefecture Apostolic of United States of America, naming John Carroll as the prefect apostolic.

With the passage of the US Constitution in 1789, religious freedom was guaranteed throughout the United States. In 1789, Pope Pius VI erected the Diocese of Baltimore, covering all of the United States including the State of Maryland. The pope named Carroll as the first bishop of Baltimore. The present day District of Columbia would remain part of this diocese, followed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, for the next 150 years.

The City of Washington was founded in 1791 as part of the plan to make it the nation's capital. Carroll founded Georgetown College in what was then the village of Georgetown in 1792. It was the first Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning in the United States.

The first Catholic Church in Washington, St. Patrick's, was established in 1794 to minister to the Irish immigrant stone masons who were constructing the White House and US Capitol Building. A brick church for St. Patrick's was completed in 1809.

19th century

In 1814, the British Army entered Washington during the War of 1812 and set the city on fire. William Matthews, pastor of St. Patrick's, saved the church from burning down, then persuaded British Major General Robert Ross to preserve it from further harm.

In 1889, Catholic University of America opened in Washington, D.C., the first papally-chartered graduate and research university in the country.Trinity College was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1897 as the nation's first Catholic liberal arts college for women.

20th century

Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

On July 22, 1939, recognizing the increased population of the District of Columbia, Pope Pius XII erected the new Archdiocese of Washington. The pope appointed Michael Curley, then archbishop of Baltimore, to also serve as archbishop of Washington. Curley died in 1947.

Pius XII in 1947 appointed separate archbishops for Baltimore and Washington. His choice as archbishop of Washington was Monsignor Patrick O'Boyle from the Archdiocese of New York. In 1948, O'Boyle racially integrated the Catholic schools in Washington and then the Maryland counties in the diocese. He started first with the colleges and universities, then the high schools, and finally the parochial elementary schools. In 1949, O'Boyle delivered the benediction at the inauguration of U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

In April 1964, during the United States Congress debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, O'Boyle chaired the Inter-religious Convocation on Civil Rights at Georgetown University. In giving the invocation before Congress, O'Boyle said that "There is in every man a priceless dignity which is your heritage. From this dignity flow the rights of man, and the duty in justice that all must respect and honor these rights..." He urged Congress to pass the bill and those present to "tell our Representatives our conviction that such a law is a moral obligation." The bill was enacted in July 1964.

The Archdiocese of Washington became a metropolitan see on October 12, 1965, when the Diocese of Saint Thomas became its only suffragan see. O'Boyle was created Cardinal Priest of San Nicola in Carcere by Pope Paul VI in June 1967. O'Boyle retired as archbishop in 1973.

To replace O'Boyle, Paul VI named Bishop William Baum of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau as the next archbishop of Washington. In the 1976 consistory, Paul VI named Baum as cardinal-priest of Santa Croce in Via Flaminia. Baum resigned as archbishop of Washington in 1980 to take a position in the Roman Curia in Rome.

Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop James Hickey from the Diocese of Cleveland as archbishop of Washington in 1980. Hickey's tenure in Washington D.C. oversaw a significant expansion of Catholic Charities, which became the region's largest private social service agency. He also established:

The Archdiocesan Health Care Network
The Archdiocesan Legal Network, which provided pro bono care for the region's low income residents
Birthing and Care, which provided pre-natal, delivery and post-natal medical care to women in financial need
Faith in the City, an initiative to revitalize inner-city Catholic schools
Victory Housing, which developed assisted and independent living for senior citizens

In conjunction with Mother Teresa, Hickey also founded a Washington convent of the Missionaries of Charity for the care of the homeless and terminally ill. Hickey ordered New Ways Ministry, an unauthorized ministry for LGBTQ+ Catholics, to stop any operations on archdiocese property in the early 1980s. He also forced Georgetown University to stop DignityUSA, a national LBGTQ+ ministry organization, from celebrating Mass on campus in 1987.

As chancellor of Catholic University, Hickey ousted theologian Charles Curran from the university's faculty in 1987. In 1989, Hickey excommunicated African-American priest George Stallings, a one-time protégé, after Stallings formed the unauthorized Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation.

21st century

When Hickey retired in 2000, John Paul II named Archbishop Theodore McCarrick from the Archdiocese of Newark as the next archbishop of Washington. McCarrick retired as archbishop in 2008.

Bishop Donald Wuerl of the Diocese of Pittsburgh was named archbishop of Washington by Benedict XVI in 2008. In late 2009, the Council of the District of Columbia was debating a bill that would prohibit discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Wuerl advocated for so-called religious liberty provisions that he said would protect the Catholic Church's ability to provide social services, such as adoption in accordance with Catholic teaching on marriage. Soon after Wuerl made this statement, The Washington Post characterized the archdiocese as giving an "ultimatum" to the city. The New York Times termed the statement a "threat" In response, Wuerl said that there was

"...no threat or ultimatum to end services, just a simple recognition that the new requirements by the city for religious organizations to recognize same-sex marriages in their policies could restrict our ability to provide the same level of services as we do now."

When the Council of DC passed the anti-discrimination bill in December 2009, Wuerl stated that it did not adequately protect religious liberty. However, he said that the archdiocese would continue to serve the poor and hoped to be "working in partnership with the District of Columbia consistent with the mission of the Catholic Church." However, in February 2010, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington ended its foster care and public adoption programs in the District rather than approved same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents. The agency also modified its employee health care benefits to avoid having to extend coverage to same-sex couples.

In 2011, Wuerl established the Saint John Paul II Seminary in Washington.

The archdiocese and other local Catholic institutions in 2012 sued the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over regulations for prescriptions and health services.

In 2017, the archdiocese sued the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) The archdiocese had tried to purchase Christmas ads that would cover bus exteriors. However, WMATA had refused, citing its policy against religious advertising. The archdiocese lost the case in the lower courts and the US Supreme Court in 2020 declined to hear it.

Wuerl resigned as archbishop of Washington in October 2018. He remained as apostolic administrator in the archdiocese until a successor was installed.

In April 2019, Archbishop Wilton Gregory from the Archdiocese of Atlanta was appointed archbishop of Washington by Pope Francis. He became the first African American to lead the archdiocese. Pope Francis raised Gregory to the rank of cardinal at a consistory in Rome in November 2020.

In December 2019, The Washington Post reported that McCarrick had given John Paul II $90,000 during the early 1990s and Benedict XVI $291,000 starting in 2005. McCarrick also made smaller donations to other Vatican officials, The money came from the "Archbishop's Special Fund", a fund controlled by McCarrick and supported by donations from wealthy Catholics. The Vatican responded that the donations did not affect any Vatican policies or actions. The archdiocese took in nearly a third less money in its 2019 annual fundraising appeal, which had been renamed from "Cardinal's Appeal" to "Annual Appeal", in the wake of the scandals.

In December 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the archdiocese sued the city of Washington, objecting to an attendance cap of 50 parishioners during any Mass or other service to prevent the spread of infection. Before the suit went to trial, the two parties settled, with the city raising the attendance cap to 250 attendees or one quarter of the church's allowed seating.

As of 2023, Gregory is the current archbishop of Washington.

Bishops

Archbishops of Washington

Michael Joseph Curley (1939–1947), concurrently the Archbishop of Baltimore
Patrick Aloysius O'Boyle (1947–1973)
William Wakefield Baum (1973–1980), appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and later Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
James Aloysius Hickey (1980–2000)
Theodore Edgar McCarrick (2001–2006; former cardinal, laicized)
Donald William Wuerl (2006–2018)
Wilton Daniel Gregory (2019–present)

Cathedra in St. Matthew's Cathedral, affixed with Archbishop Curley's coat of arms

Auxiliary bishops

John Michael McNamara (1947–1960)
Patrick Joseph McCormick (1950–1953)
Philip Matthew Hannan (1956–1965), appointed Archbishop of New Orleans
William Joseph McDonald (1964–1967), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco
John Selby Spence (1964–1973)
Edward John Herrmann (1966–1973), appointed Bishop of Columbus
Thomas William Lyons (1974–1988)
Eugene Antonio Marino (1974–1988), appointed Archbishop of Atlanta
Thomas Cajetan Kelly (1977–1981), appointed Archbishop of Louisville
Alvaro Corrada del Rio (1985–1997), appointed Apostolic Administrator of Caguas and later Bishop of Tyler and Bishop of Mayaguez
William George Curlin (1988–1994), appointed Bishop of Charlotte
Leonard Olivier (1988–2004)
William E. Lori (1995–2001), appointed Bishop of Bridgeport and later Archbishop of Baltimore
Kevin Joseph Farrell (2001–2007), appointed Bishop of Dallas and later Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life (elevated to cardinal in 2016)
Francisco González Valer (2001–2014)
Martin Holley (2004–2016), appointed Bishop of Memphis
Barry Christopher Knestout (2008–2018), appointed Bishop of Richmond
Mario E. Dorsonville (2015–2023), appointed Bishop of Houma–Thibodaux
Roy Edward Campbell (2017–present)
Michael William Fisher (2018–2020), appointed Bishop of Buffalo
Juan Esposito-Garcia (2023–present)
Evelio Menjivar-Ayala (2023–present)

Other archdiocesan priests who became bishops

John Francis Donoghue, appointed Bishop of Charlotte in 1984 and later Archbishop of Atlanta
David Edward Foley, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Richmond in 1986 and later Bishop of Birmingham
Raymond James Boland, appointed Bishop of Birmingham in 1988 and later Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph
Mark Edward Brennan, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore in 2016 and later Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston
William D. Byrne, appointed Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts in 2020

Parishes

Education

The Archdiocese of Washington centralized its school administration as part of its Center City Consortium, established in 1997.

High schools in Maryland

Academy of the Holy Cross – Kensington
Avalon School – Gaithersburg
Bishop McNamara High School – Forestville
Brookewood School – Kensington
Connelly School of the Holy Child – Potomac
DeMatha Catholic High School – Hyattsville
Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School – Takoma Park
Elizabeth Seton High School – Bladensburg
Georgetown Preparatory School – North Bethesda
Heights School – Potomac (under jurisdiction of the Prelature of Opus Dei)
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School – Olney
St. Mary's Ryken High School – Leonardtown
St. Vincent Pallotti High School – Laurel
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart – Bethesda

High schools in District of Columbia

Archbishop Carroll High School
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Gonzaga College High School
St. Anselm's Abbey School
St. John's College High School

Colleges and universities in District of Columbia

Catholic University of America
Georgetown University
Trinity Washington University

Seminaries in District of Columbia

Redemptoris Mater Seminary
St. John Paul II Seminary
Theological College
Dominican House of Studies

Cemeteries

In addition to the nearly four dozen of its parishes which have their own cemeteries, the archdiocese owns and operates five major cemeteries:

Mount Olivet Cemetery – DC
Gate of Heaven Cemetery – Silver Spring, MD
St. Mary's Queen of Peace Cemetery – Helen, MD
Resurrection Cemetery – Clinton, MD
All Souls Cemetery – Germantown, MD

Two former parish cemeteries are also operated by the archdiocese:

St. John's Cemetery – Forest Glen, MD
St. Mary's Cemetery – – DC

Province of Washington

Ecclesiastical Province of Washington map

Diocese of Saint Thomas