The Diocese of Kalamazoo is a Roman Catholic diocese in the southwestern portion of the State of Michigan. The Diocese of Kalamazoo encompasses Allegan, Van Buren, Berrien, Cass, Saint Joseph, Kalamazoo, Branch, Calhoun, and Barry Counties. The Diocese consists of 46 parishes, 13 missions, 75 priests, and 36 deacons. The Diocese operates 3 high schools, 2 middle schools and 17 grade schools, serving more than 3,000 students throughout the same. There are also two parish run preschools. It currently has 5 seminarians in formation to be priests.
History
The territory comprising the Diocese was originally part of the Archdiocese of Detroit. It was later became part of the Diocese of Grand Rapids from which it was created. On December 19, 1970, the Diocese of Kalamazoo was erected by Pope Paul VI and the parish of St. Augustine designated as the cathedral church of the new diocese. The Diocese was officially inaugurated on July 21, 1971, when Paul Vincent Donovan was consecrated and installed as the first bishop. From the erection of the diocese until its closure in 1992 the Diocese of Kalamazoo hosted Nazareth College.
These arms are displayed on a red field to bespeak the Native Americans that inhabited and continue to live in the region that is now the Diocese of Kalamazoo. On this field is placed a silver wavy bend that is the heraldic representation of water. This bend is strewn with a seme of blue annulets to represent bubbles. This symbol represents the English equivalent of the Native American name Kalamazoo, which means "boiling pot," and is used to describe the Kalamazoo River because of the bubbles in the water. Below the wavy bend is a silver peace pipe, decorated with gold feathers, which was called a "calumet" by the French explorers that came to the region. This symbol of lasting and enduring peace is an object of profound veneration in the Native American culture because it is the supreme proof of hospitality, respecting the peace between parties that could not be broken without incurring the wrath of the gods. The totality of Peace, that is Christ, signified by this symbol, comes to those who believe in him as the Redeemer of the World. Above the bend is an open book that displays in red the words Tolle Lege. This charge honors St. Augustine of Hippo, titular of the Cathedral Church in Kalamazoo. The story is related that, as a repentant, St. Augustine meditating on the Sacred Scriptures under a tree heard a little child say "Take and Read". Then opening the text to St. Paul's letter to the Romans, Augustine read "let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.". Considering that he had heard the Voice of God, Augustine took up the religious profession, to the great joy of his mother, St. Monica, eventually becoming the Bishop of Hippo in northern Africa.
