Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton

The Archdiocese of Edmonton (Latin: Archidioecesis Edmontonensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese in the Canadian civil province of Alberta. The archbishop's cathedral see is located in St. Joseph Cathedral, a minor basilica in Edmonton. The Archdiocese of Edmonton is the metropolitan see of its ecclesiastical province, which also contains two suffragan dioceses: the Dioceses of Calgary and Saint Paul in Alberta.

Archdiocese of Edmonton

Archidioecesis Edmontonensis
Location
Country Canada
Ecclesiastical provinceEdmonton
Statistics
Area81,151 km2 (31,333 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics

1,557,922
368,545 (23.7%)
Parishes129
Schools10
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established1912-11-30
CathedralSt. Joseph's Basilica
Secular priests96
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopRichard William Smith
Map
Website
caedm.ca

On March 22, 2007, Vatican Information Services announced that a Halifax native, Bishop Richard William Smith of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke, Canada, had been appointed as Archbishop of Edmonton by Pope Benedict XVI. On Saturday, July 14, 2012, an official news release from Vatican Information Service (VIS), an arm of the Holy See Press Office, stated that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Gregory Bittman, who until then had been serving as the Judicial Vicar and as Archdiocesan Chancellor, as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Edmonton and Titular Bishop of Caltadria.[1] On February 6, 2018, Pope Francis appointed him the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Nelson in southeastern British Columbia.[2] He left the Archdiocese of Edmonton and took possession of the Diocese of Nelson on April 25, 2018.

Ecclesiastical province

Its suffragan sees are :

History

Established on 22 September 1871 as the Diocese of St Albert (Latin Sancti Alberti), on territory split off from the then Diocese of Saint-Boniface, to which it lost territory again in 1889 (meanwhile Metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface)

Promoted on 1912.11.30 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Edmonton / Edmontonen(sis) (Latin), having lost territory to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary as its first suffragan.

Lost territory again on 1948.07.17 to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Paul, Alberta, which became its second suffragan.

It enjoyed a Papal visit from Pope John Paul II in September 1984.

The Archdiocese of Edmonton was later criticized for its handling of sex abuse allegations against Rev. Patrick O'Neill and was sued by one of O'Neil's alleged victims in 2012.[3]

Diocesan episcopate

(all Roman rite)

Suffragan Bishops of Edmonton
Metropolitan Archbishops of Edmonton
  • Émile-Joseph Legal, O.M.I. (see above 1912.11.30 – death 1920.03.10)
  • Henry Joseph O'Leary, (1920.09.07 – death 1938.03.05), previously Bishop of Charlottetown (Canada) (1913.01.29 – 1920.09.07)
  • John Hugh MacDonald, (1938.03.05 – retired 1964.08.11), previously ; later Bishop of Victoria (Canada) (1934.08.11 – 1936.12.16) and Titular Archbishop of Mocissus (1936.12.16 – 1938.03.05) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Edmonton (1936.12.16 – succession 1938.03.05); emeritate as Titular Archbishop of Mediana (1964.08.11 – death 1965.01.17)
  • Anthony Jordan, O.M.I. (1964.08.11 – retired 1973.07.02), previously Titular Bishop of Vada (1945.06.22 – 1955.04.27) as Apostolic Vicar of Prince Rupert (Canada) (1945.06.22 – 1955.04.27), then Titular Archbishop of Silyum (1955.04.27 – 1964.08.11) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Edmonton (1955.04.27 – succession 1964.08.11); died 1982
  • Joseph MacNeil, (1973.07.02 – retired 1999.06.07), also President of Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (1979 – 1981); previously Bishop of Saint John, New Brunswick (Canada) (1969.04.09 – 1973.07.02)
  • Thomas Collins (1999.06.07 – 2006.12.16), also Apostolic Administrator of suffragan Saint Paul (Canada) (2001.03.16 – 2001.09.08); previously Coadjutor Bishop of Saint-Paul (1997.03.25 – 1997.06.30) succeeding as Bishop of Saint-Paul (Canada) (1997.06.30 – 1999.02.18), Coadjutor Archbishop of Edmonton (1999.02.18 – 1999.06.07); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto (Ontario, Canada) (2006.12.16 – ...), created Cardinal-Priest of S. Patrizio (2012.02.18 [2012.10.23] – ...), Member of Commission of Cardinals overseeing the Institute for Works of Religion (2014.01.15 – ...)
  • Richard William Smith, ( 2007– ...)
Coadjutor bishops
  • John Hugh MacDonald (1936-1938)
  • Thomas Collins (1999), future cardinal
Auxiliary bishop
  • Gregory John Bittman (2012-2018), later appointed Bishop of Nelson, British Columbia
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
  • James Charles McGuigan, appointed Archbishop of Regina in 1930; future Cardinal
  • Charles Leo Nelligan, appointed Bishop of Pembroke, Ontario in 1937
  • Edward Quentin Jennings, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Vancouver, British Columbia in 1941
  • Michael Cornelius O'Neill, appointed Archbishop of Regina in 1947
  • Wilfrid Emmett Doyle, appointed Bishop of Nelson, British Columbia in 1958
  • Paul Terrio, appointed Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta in 2012
  • Stephen Andrew Hero, appointed Bishop of Prince Albert in 2021

Statistics and extent

The archdiocese (not including its suffragan dioceses) covers Central Alberta, Edmonton Capital Region and the middle and upper half of the Alberta's Rockies region. The Archdiocese includes the greater Edmonton area but also covers a geographic region stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Saskatchewan boundary in the east, from Olds in the south to Grande Cache in the north.

It acknowledges that the Archdiocese is situated on traditional lands, parts of which are within Treaty 6, Treaty 7 and Treaty 8 territories of the Alexander First Nation (Cree), Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation (Stoney), Enoch Cree Nation (Cree), Ermineskin Cree Nation (Cree), Louis Bull Tribe (Cree), Montana First Nation (Cree), O’Chiese First Nation (Western Ojibwa), Paul First Nation (Cree/Stoney), Samson Cree Nation (Cree), and Sunchild First Nation (Cree). Mass is celebrated in at least 16 different languages, including Cree, French, Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Croatian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Italian, Hungarian, Korean, Latin, Sudanese, and American Sign Language.

As of 2020, it pastorally served 436,792 Catholics (26.4% of 1,899,097 total) on 150,000 km² in 122 parishes and missions with 126 priests, 40 permanent deacons, 163 religious sisters, 8 religious brothers, 5 members of lay institutes, 15 lay missionaries and 12 seminarians.[4]

Edmonton parishes

Rural parishes

Archdiocesan Media

The Western Catholic Reporter was a weekly newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada that covered the Catholic religion.

The newspaper was owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton. Its declared mission was to serve its readers by helping them deepen their faith through accurate information and reflective commentary on events and issues of concern to the Church.

The Reporter closed in 2016 and was replaced by the news website Grandin Media.

References

53°32′26″N 113°30′59″W

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