Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown is a Latin rite diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the Eastern United States.
Its cathedral is the Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was announced on December 9, 2016 that Pope Francis had transferred Allentown Bishop John O. Barres to the Diocese of Rockville Centre in Long Island, New York.
As the Fifth Bishop of Allentown, Pope Francis, on June 27, 2017 appointed Monsignor Alfred A. Schlert. Bishop Schlert is the first priest ordained for the Diocese of Allentown to be appointed Bishop of the Diocese.  He was ordained a Bishop and installed as Bishop of Allentown on August 31, 2017.
Catholics form the largest single religious group in the five counties of the Diocese. In the 83 parishes of the Diocese, there are more than 252,000 registered Catholics, representing more than 20 percent of the general population.

Statistics and extent

The diocese covers the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill. It has a Catholic population of 258,997 as of 2015, approximately 20.4% of the total population; it maintains 83 parishes, 30 Catholic elementary schools, 7 Catholic high schools.
it pastorally served 301,000 Catholics on 7,183 km² in 102 parishes and 26 missions with 236 priests, 93 deacons, 399 lay religious and 17 seminarians.

History

The diocese was founded on January 28, 1961 by Pope John XXIII splitting it from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; the first bishop, Joseph Mark McShea, was installed on April 11 of that year. During his 22-year tenure, he oversaw the construction, purchase, and renovation of over 300 church buildings. In 1964, McShea, together with the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, founded Allentown College. He ordained 130 priests between 1961 and 1975. Although the diocese accounted for only 7 percent of Pennsylvania's Catholic population, it provided 20 percent of the state's ordinations. He convened the first diocesan synod in May 1968.
McShea founded "Operation Rice Bowl" which began in the form of a small cardboard box in the parishes of the diocese to receive alms directed to relieving a famine in Africa. In 1976 it was adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as a national program, and the following year assigned to Catholic Relief Services. He helmed the founding of Holy Family Manor, a nursing and rehabilitation center at the former Eugene Grace mansion in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He also established Holy Family Villa, a retirement home for priests.
Bishop McShea was followed by Bishop Thomas Welsh, formerly Bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. Welsh established the first Youth Ministry Office in the diocese and raised $13 million in an endowment campaign for diocesan schools and other educational efforts. He was a member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Despite his reputation as a conservative, Welsh allowed girls to serve as altar servers at Mass, and gained recognition for his work to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. He turned his home, a mansion purchased by Bishop McShea and bequeathed to the diocese upon his death, into a center for carrying on his pastoral work.
Bishop Edward Cullen was the third Bishop of the Diocese of Allentown. In 2008, Cullen, under the direction of the Metropolitan Archbishop Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, carried out a program to restructure many of the parishes in the Diocese. As part of this program, 47 parishes were closed; this reduced the number of parishes from 151 to 104. Some of the closed churches were then sold.
John Barres was bishop for seven years before being appointed to the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Bishop Barres established the Saint Thomas More Society for lawyers, and expanded the diocese's Hispanic ministry and evangelization.

Bishops

Bishops of Allentown

  1. Joseph Mark McShea
  2. Thomas Jerome Welsh
  3. Edward Peter Cullen
  4. John Oliver Barres, appointed Bishop of Rockville Centre
  5. Alfred Andrew Schlert

    Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

Vicar General: Msgr. David L. James, J.C.L.
Judicial Vicar: Msgr. Victor F. Finelli, J.C.L.
In 2008, the Diocese of Allentown underwent a major restructuring of parishes. Declining Mass attendance, shifts in population, and a decrease in priestly vocations led to these changes. Much of the Northeastern United States is experiencing the same demographic transformation.

Deaneries & Vicars Forane

A cross indicates a parish formed from the merger or consolidation of two or more former parishes.

Carbon Deanery

In early 2016, a grand jury investigation, led by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, began an inquiry into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in six Pennsylvania dioceses: Allentown, Scranton, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, and Erie. The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were not included, as they had been the subjects of earlier investigations.
On August 1, 2018, Matt Kerr, spokesman for the Diocese of Allentown, announced that the Diocese would cooperate with a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling and publish a list containing names of clergy suspected of taking part in sexual abuse of children. On August 14, 2018, a grand jury report named thirty-seven priests in the Allentown diocese accused of sexual misconduct. The allegations cover a period of several decades. Bishop Schlert issued an apology on behalf of the Allentown Diocese. Schlert stated that the cases of sexual abuse in the Diocese date back decades and that most of the accused priests in the Diocese are either deceased or no longer active in the ministry.
Schlert also stated that the Diocese has had a zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse since 2003.
"Excerpts from the report depict Schlert as someone quick to confront priests who were the subject of abuse complaints. He, along with a fellow monsignor, helped facilitate several resignations and retirements from priests suspected of sexually abusing children. His inquiry with one accused priest triggered the process of that priest being laicized, or defrocked." Shapiro said that over time, Schlert was promoted for his role in handling the sex abuse allegations. Commenting on the grand jury report at the time of its release, Schlert noted that "much has changed in the past 15 years, notably, that the diocese immediately removes accused priests from ministry and reports allegations to law enforcement."
Three Allentown priests have been removed from ministry since the grand jury wrapped up its investigation, with one being reinstated when the allegation was determined to be unfounded. On August 22, 2018, Diocese priest Rev. Kevin Lonergan, who was not among those listed, was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors after inappropriately touching a 17-year-old girl and sending nude images of himself to her. One accused priest was also revealed to have transferred to the Diocese of Orlando in Florida. In February 2020, Lonergan was sentenced to 1-2 years prison after being convicted.
Bishop Schlert suspended the priestly faculties of Father David C. Gillis pending the outcome of the investigation. Detectives in Berks County, Pennsylvania began investigating Gillis after the father of a girl reported she had been abused at a Catholic school where he used to work. The Berks County District Attorney's Office said, "As a result of our thorough investigation, it has been determined the allegation of child sexual abuse against Reverend Gillis was false. The alleged victim disclosed to our detectives, in an interview, that she was not sexually abused by Reverend Gillis." District Attorney John T. Adams said, "It is unfortunate that the accusation of child sexual abuse against Reverend Gillis was made public by the Diocese of Orlando before the outcome of this investigation could be determined."
On May 20, 2020, it was revealed that Timothy Paul McGettigan, a former parishioner of the St. Catharine of Siena in Reading who was now living in Texas, had filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Allentown. In his court paperwork, which was filed in Lehigh Coutny McGettigan stated that in the 1970s, he was sexually abused by two priests, Rev. Joseph Grembocki and Rev. David A. Soderlund, as well as several other priests whom he cannot identify. Grembocki died in 2016, while Soderlund was defrocked in 2005. Though Soderlund was named in the Pennsylvania grand jury report, Grembocki was not.

Catholic education

Higher education