Diocese of Evansville Dioecesis Evansvicensis |
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Location | |
Country | United States |
Territory |
Southwestern Indiana & Lower Wabash Valley |
Ecclesiastical province | Indianapolis |
Statistics | |
Area | 12,684 km2 (4,897 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2010) 507,553 83,343 (16.4%) |
Parishes | 53 |
Information | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | October 21, 1944 (72 years ago) |
Cathedral | St. Benedict Cathedral, Evansville, Indiana |
Patron saint | Mary, Mother of God |
Secular priests | 64 |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Sede vacante |
Emeritus Bishops | Gerald Gettelfinger |
Map | |
Map of the Diocese of Evansville |
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Website | |
evdio.org |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville (Latin: Dioecesis Evansvicensis) is a Latin rite division of the Roman Catholic Church in Southwestern Indiana.
On October 21, 1944, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Indianapolis was split into the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and the Diocese of Evansville. At the same time, all of Indiana split away from the Ecclesiastical Province of Cincinnati to form the new Ecclesiastical Province of Indianapolis.
The Diocese of Evansville includes all or part of 12 counties in Southwestern Indiana. (Harrison Township in Spencer County, where St. Meinrad Archabbey is located, is part of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.)
As of 2014, it pastorally served 90,800 Catholics (17.8% of 510,626 total) in 69 parishes (grouped into 4 deaneries) and 4 missions with 71 priests (66 diocesan, 5 religious), 59 deacons, 234 lay religious (6 brothers, 228 sisters) and 10 seminarians.
The Diocese of Evansville was founded on October 21, 1944, at which time it included 5 deaneries (Evansville, Jasper, Vincennes, Princeton, and Washington), 63 parishes and missions, 49,737 Catholics, and 75 diocesan priests. Henry Grimmelsman, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in suburban Columbus, Ohio, was named the first bishop, and Assumption Church in downtown Evansville was named the cathedral. The diocese purchased the John Augustus Reitz Home from the Daughters of Isabella for use as the chancery and bishop’s residence.