Catholic-Hierarchy.org


Catholic-Hierarchy.org is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. The website is not officially sanctioned by the Church. It is run as a private project by David M. Cheney in Kansas City.

Origin and contents

In the 1990s, David M. Cheney created a simple internet website that documented the Roman Catholic bishops in his home state of Texas—many of whom did not have webpages. In 2002, after moving to the Midwest, he officially created the present website catholic-hierarchy.org and expanded to cover the United States and eventually the world. The database contains geographical, organizational and address information on each Catholic diocese in the world, including Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See, such as the Maronite Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Church.
It also gives biographical information on current and previous bishops of each diocese, such as dates of birth, ordinations and death.

Status

The website is cited as a reference by Vatican Radio as well as by numerous Catholic dioceses around the world, academic institutions, libraries, newspapers, and in published works. Vaticanologist Sandro Magister lists it as a recommended site on Catholicism. It is also used as a reference by other church writers including John L. Allen, Jr., canon lawyer Edward N. Peters, and Rocco Palmo. The Zenit News Agency states that the webpage provides a "silent, unique service to the Church".