Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the southern United States and comprises the entire state of South Carolina, with Charleston as its see city. Currently, the diocese consists of 92 parishes and 24 missions throughout the state. It is led by the Most Rev. Robert Guglielmone, the Thirteenth Bishop of Charleston, who serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in the City of Charleston. Its first bishop was John England. Charleston is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
The diocese was created from territories of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Diocese of Charleston was canonically erected on July 11, 1820 by Pope Pius VII making it the seventh oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. At that time, the diocese comprised the states of Georgia, North Carolina, & South Carolina.
Services are primarily given in English throughout the diocese, though the rapid increase in the Hispanic population has caused several congregations to include Spanish language services, particularly in the Lowcountry region.

Cathedral

Consecrated on April 6, 1854 the Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar was the first proper cathedral of the diocese. On December 11, 1861, it was destroyed in a fire that consumed most of the city. The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist was built to replace the original and sits on the foundation of the ruins.
Before the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh was formed, the Diocese of Charleston had a pro-cathedral in Wilmington, North Carolina, that is now St. Mary Catholic Church.

Sex Abuse

In 2007, then-Charleston Bishop Robert J. Baker agreed to pay a settlement of $12 million to people who were sexually abused by priests who were serving in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston. In March 2019, the Diocese unveiled the names of 42 clergy who were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sex abuse while serving in the Diocese of Charleston. In August 2019, it was revealed that Charleston Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone was being sued in the state of New York for sex abuse he reportedly committed while serving in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

List of Bishops

The complete list of Bishops of the diocese is as follows:
  1. John England
  2. Ignatius A. Reynolds
  3. Patrick N. Lynch
  4. Henry P. Northrop
  5. William Thomas Russell
  6. Emmet M. Walsh, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Youngstown
  7. John J. Russell, appointed Bishop of Richmond
  8. Paul John Hallinan, appointed Archbishop of Atlanta
  9. Francis Frederick Reh, appointed Rector of the Pontifical North American College and later the Bishop of Saginaw
  10. Ernest Leo Unterkoefler
  11. David B. Thompson
  12. Robert J. Baker, appointed Bishop of Birmingham
  13. Robert E. Guglielmone

    Coadjutor Bishops

Newspaper

, successor to the U.S. Catholic Miscellany, the first Catholic newspaper in the United States, is the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

Office of Vocations

  1. Msgr. Richard Harris - Vicar of Vocations, 2004 - 2010
  2. Fr. Jeffrey Kirby - Vicar of Vocations, 2010 - 2015
  3. Fr. Mark Good - Vicar of Vocations, 2015–Present

    Schools

Diocesan High schools