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. In 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 Valley area contained no parishes at this time. Pope Gregory XVI formed the Diocese of Detroit in 1833, covering the entire Michigan Territory. Saginaw remained part of the Diocese of Detroit for the next 104 years.

The first Catholic church in the Saginaw Valley was St. Joseph, dedicated in 1850 in Bay City.[2] St. Mary's Parish in Saginaw, the first in that community, was established in 1853 as a mission of St. Joseph.[3]

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 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, Murphy established the Guadalupe Clinic and the Mexican Apostolate, and for the elderly, the St. Francis Home.

After Murphy died in 1950, Pope Pius XII appointed Auxiliary Bishop Stephen S. Woznicki from Detroit as bishop of Saginaw that same year.

After World War II, the diocese underwent tremendous growth, with the diocese establishing 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 and Reverend James A. Hickey was appointed its rector. The seminary opened in 1961 and closed 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 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. Reh transformed the quota system for diocesan support into a Catholic Services Appeal directly to parishioners 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 Reverend Kenneth E. Untener, rector of St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, 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 in 2004.[4]

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.[5] The first permanent deacon in over 25 years was ordained in 2006,[6] and two men were ordained to the transitional diaconate in that same year. 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 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,[7] sent a group of 230 people to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.,[8] 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 bishop of Saginaw.[9]

In March 2018, Saginaw police executed a search warrant at Cistone's residence along with the chancery and cathedral rectory. They had been dissatisfied with the cooperation they had been receiving from Cistone in the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against Monsignor Robert DeLand.[10]

Cistone served until his death from lung cancer in 2018.[11] Pope Francis appointed Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Rapid City as his replacement.

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.

In May 2020, Gabriel Villarreal, a maintenance man for the diocese, sued the diocese, claiming harassment by other diocese employees, Villarreal said the harassment started after he accused DeLand of sexually abusing his son. Fellow workers called him a "mole" and a "spy", cut back his working hours, and mocked him.[10]

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.

As of 2023, Cruss is the bishop of Saginaw.

Megan Winans, a Central Michigan University student, sued the Diocese of Saginaw in February 2016. She claimed that Reverend Denis Heames had misused counseling sessions to draw her into a sexual relationship. Heames was parochial administrator at St. Mary University Parish in Mount Pleasant until the diocese removed him in July 2015 for "boundary violations".[12] Soon after Winans filed her lawsuit, the diocese verified that Heames had sexually harassed her.[13]

Robert DeLand was indicted on criminal sexual conduct in March 2018 by a 17-year-old male and a 21-year-old male. The two accusers said that DeLand showed them pornography and inappropriately touched them. After the indictment, more alleged victims came forward.[14] Also in March 2018, DeLand's teenage victim sued the diocese.[15] DeLand was acquitted of charges in his first trial but pleaded no contest in a second separate trial in March 2019 on criminal sexual conduct.[16] He was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison.[17] DeLand was laicized by the Vatican in November 2022.[18]

In November 2018, the diocese released a list of 18 deceased priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor.[19] In April 2018, the diocese asked retired Michigan Appeals Court Judge Michael Talbot to conduct an investigation into its sexual abuse allegations.[20]

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–present)

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.