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Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno

Coordinates: 39°31′37″N 119°49′18″W / 39.52694°N 119.82167°W / 39.52694; -119.82167
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Diocese of Reno

Diœcesis Renensis
St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location
Country United States
TerritoryCounties of Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lyon, Mineral, Pershing, Storey, and Washoe
Ecclesiastical provinceLas Vegas
Statistics
Area70,852 sq mi (183,510 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2010)
835,000
132,982 [1] (15.9%)
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedMarch 21, 1995[1]
CathedralCathedral of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Patron saintOur Lady of the Snow
Holy Family
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopDaniel Henry Mueggenborg
Metropolitan ArchbishopGeorge Leo Thomas
Bishops emeritusPhillip Francis Straling
Randolph Roque Calvo
Map
Website
renodiocese.org

The Diocese of Reno (Latin: Dioecesis Renensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern Nevada region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese, formerly of the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco and, since May 30, 2023, of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas.[2]

The mother church of the Diocese of Reno is St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno. As of 2023, the current bishop of Reno is Daniel Mueggenborg.

Name changes

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The diocese has undergone three name changes over the last 100 years:

  • Diocese of Reno (1931- 1976)
  • Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas (1976-1995)
  • Diocese of Reno (1995–present)

Territory

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The Diocese of Reno is composed of 12 Nevada counties:

History

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1860 to 1931

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With the discovery of gold in the western foothills of Nevada in 1858, large numbers of miners started flooding into the region, establishing mining towns. That same year, Archbishop Joseph Alemany of the Archdiocese of San Francisco sent Reverend Joseph Gallagher to the mining towns to tend to the Catholic population. Two years later, the Vatican placed western Nevada under the new Diocese of Grass Valley in California.[3] Bishop Eugene O’Connell of Grass Valley started sending more priests to Nevada to establish missions and build churches.[3]

The first Catholic church in Nevada was constructed in Virginia City in 1860 to serve the miners in that town. Another Catholic church was constructed in Carson City around the same time.[4] The first church in Reno was Saint Mary's, constructed there in 1871.[5] St. Thomas Church, the future cathedral, was finished in Reno in 1910.

In 1915, Archbishop James J. Keane wrote a letter to the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, Diomede Falconio, advocating a bishop for Nevada, citing the difficulties of the California diocese in providing coverage there. However, nothing came from Keane's initiative.[3]

While traveling west through Nevada by train during the 1920s, Cardinal George Mundelein, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, asked about which bishop was in charge of the state. When he found out that Nevada did not have its own bishop, he pushed the Vatican to establish a diocese there, offering support from his archdiocese.[3]

1931 to 1986

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Pope Pius XI established the Diocese of Reno on March 27, 1931. The pope named Reverend Thomas Gorman of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles as the first bishop of Reno.[6][7] At its founding, the diocese had a Catholic population of approximately 8,000.[3]

Under Gorman, the diocese opened soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Reno in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression.[8] During World War II, he created USO centers for soldiers on leave, African-American wartime workers and residents in Boulder City.[8] Gorman became coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Dallas in 1952.

The second bishop of Reno was Robert Dwyer of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, named by Pope Pius XII in 1952. In 1966, Dwyer became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland. To replace Dwyer, Pope Paul VI in 1966 named Auxiliary Bishop Michael Green of the Diocese of Lansing as the new bishop of Reno.[9] Green retired in 1974. Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Norman McFarland of San Francisco to succeed Green in Reno in 1976. That same year, the pope renamed the Diocese of Reno as the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas to acknowledge the explosive population growth of Las Vegas. McFarland was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Orange in 1986.

1986 to 2010

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The second bishop of Reno-Las Vegas was Auxiliary Bishop Daniel F. Walsh of San Francisco, named by Pope John Paul II in 1986.[10] When the pope split southern Nevada into the new Diocese of Las Vegas in 1995, he named Walsh as its first bishop. The Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas reverted to the Diocese of Reno.[9]

The first bishop of the reestablished Diocese of Reno was Bishop Phillip Straling from the Diocese of San Bernardino, named by John Paul II in 1995.[11] Straling retired in 2005. That same year, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Monsignor Randolph Calvo of San Francisco as the next bishop of Reno.

In 2009, Calvo was named in a lawsuit by Richard DeMolen, the former pastor of Our Lady of Tahoe Catholic Parish in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Calvo had fired DeMolen because the priest had refused to remove a restraining order he filed against a diocesan deacon. DeMolen claimed the deacon had sent him a death threat, which Calvo never investigated. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2010.[12]

2010 to present

[edit]

Nick Nicosia, former lay administrator of St. Mary's in the Mountains church in Virginia City, sued the diocese in 2010 over his termination from this job. Nicosia claimed the diocese fired him because he objected to a donation from the former owner of Mustang Ranch, a legal brothel in Sparks, to a church restoration project. The diocese said they removed him from the position because a priest was available to take the position.[13] Calvo retired in 2021.

Pope Francis in 2021 named Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg from the Archdiocese of Seattle as the next bishop of Reno. As of 2023, Mueggenborg is the bishop of Reno.[14][15] The diocese became part of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas's ecclesiastical province upon the archdiocese's elevation as a metropolitan see in May 2023.[2]

Sex abuse

[edit]

Reverend Edmund Boyle, a chaplain at St. Mary's Hospital in Reno, was charged in 1987 with sexually molesting a 12 year old boy. The developmentally disabled victim was terminally ill. A nurse discovered Boyle exposing himself to the boy at Riverside Hospital for Skilled Care.[16] He was later convicted of lewdness with a child.[17] Boyle was later accused of sexually abusing minors in Washington State and Oregon.

A Reno woman received a $50,000 settlement from the diocese in November 2004. The victim said she had been raped by Reverend David Brusky, a member of the Society of the Divine Savior, during the 1970s when she was a teenager. Five other women also came forward with abuse allegations against Brusky.[18] He was also accused of abuse in the Diocese of Santa Rosa in California.[19]

In 2010, Bishop Calvo placed Reverend Tom Cronin, a priest at St. Mary's in the Mountains Parish in Virginia City, on leave due to a sexual abuse allegation from Missouri. Calvo had read that Cronin was being sued in Kansas City, Missouri, by a woman who claimed he molested at age 17 in Hamilton, Missouri. Cronin moved to the Reno area to work as a chaplain in 1996. Calvo was criticized for not suspending Cronin immediately. Cronin was never returned to ministry.[20]

The diocese in 2019 published a list of 12 clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors, dating back 80 years.[21]

The diocese in 2022 suspended Reverend Patrick Klekas from ministry after having an inappropriate relationship with an adult woman. In June 2023, the diocese announced that he was the subject of a criminal investigation and would remain suspended.[22]

Bishops

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Bishops of Reno

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  1. Thomas Kiely Gorman (1931–1952), appointed Bishop of Dallas
  2. Robert Joseph Dwyer (1952–1967), appointed Archbishop of Portland in Oregon
  3. Michael Joseph Green (1967–1974)
  4. Norman Francis McFarland (1974–1976)

Bishops of Reno-Las Vegas

[edit]
  1. Norman Francis McFarland (1976–1986), appointed Bishop of Orange
  2. Daniel F. Walsh (1986–1995), appointed Bishop of Las Vegas and later Bishop of Santa Rosa in California

Bishops of Reno

[edit]
  1. Phillip Francis Straling (1995–2005)
  2. Randolph Roque Calvo (2006–2021)
  3. Daniel Henry Mueggenborg (2021–present)

Priest who became bishop of another diocese

[edit]

Thomas Joseph Connolly, appointed Bishop of Baker in 1971

Parishes

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See List of churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno

Education

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Superintendents

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  • Br. Matthew Cunningham, FSR (1990–2000)
  • Kitty Bergin (2002–2011)
  • Karen Barreras (2011–2022)
  • Matthew Schiambari (2022–2024)
  • Br. Christopher D. Hall, C.F.C., Ed.D (2024–present)

High school

[edit]

Elementary schools and preschools

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  • Holy Child Learning Center – Reno
  • Little Flower School – Reno
  • Our Lady of the Snows School – Reno
  • Saint Albert the Great Child Development Center – Reno
  • Saint Albert the Great School – Reno
  • St. Teresa of Avila Preschool – Carson City
  • St. Teresa of Avila School – Carson City

Hospitals

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Catholic-Hierarchy.org". Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  2. ^ a b "Viva Arch Vegas! LV diocese elevated". The Pillar. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e Avella, Steven M. "THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF RENO" (PDF). Sacramento Diocesan Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  4. ^ ncs-import. "Carson City is home to some of Nevada's oldest churches". www.nevadaappeal.com. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  5. ^ Harmon, Mella Rothwell. "St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral - The 1910 Catholic church was designated a Cathedral in 1931". Reno Historical. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  6. ^ "Bishop Thomas Kiely Gorman [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
  7. ^ Survey (Nev.), Historical Records; Project, Nevada Historical Records Survey (1939). Inventory of the Church Archives of Nevada. Historical Records Survey.
  8. ^ a b Simich, Jerry L.; Wright, Thomas C. (2010-03-15). More Peoples of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 978-0-87417-818-0.
  9. ^ a b "Bishop Michael Joseph Green". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  10. ^ "Bishop Daniel Francis Walsh [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  11. ^ "Past Bishops". www.sbdiocese.org. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  12. ^ ncs-import. "Judge tosses out Zephyr Cove priest's lawsuit vs. bishop". www.nevadaappeal.com. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
  13. ^ "Diocese of Reno sued over man's retaliation claim". mohavedailynews.com. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  14. ^ "VATICAN APPOINTS THE MOST REVEREND DANIEL MUEGGENBORG THE NEW BISHOP OF RENO". Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  15. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 20.07.2021" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  16. ^ Archives, L. A. Times (1987-04-25). "Retired Priest Charged With Molesting Dying Retarded Boy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  17. ^ "Diocese to Face Queries in Case". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  18. ^ "Victim Feels She 'Didn't Get the Truth', by Martha Bellisle, Reno Gazette-Journal (October 9, 2005) [Rev. David Brusky]". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  19. ^ "DIOCESE RESPONDS TO THE REQUEST FOR TRANSPARENCY" (PDF). Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa. January 12, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  20. ^ "Bishop Randolph Calvo". rapevictimsofthecatholicchurch. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
  21. ^ Team, News 4 & Fox 11 Digital (2019-04-05). "Diocese of Reno releases names of priest accused of sexual abuse of minors". KRNV. Retrieved 2023-05-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Timko, Steve (2023-05-13). "Bishop: Reno priest's transfer on hold pending police investigation". Kolotv. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
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39°31′37″N 119°49′18″W / 39.52694°N 119.82167°W / 39.52694; -119.82167

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