Diocese of Peoria Dioecesis Peoriensis |
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Location | |
Country | United States |
Territory | 26 counties across central Illinois |
Ecclesiastical province | Chicago |
Metropolitan | Chicago |
Statistics | |
Area | 16,933 sq mi (43,860 km2) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2004) 1,562,868 195,553 (12.5%) |
Parishes | 165 |
Information | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Rite | Latin Rite |
Established | February 12, 1875 (142 years ago) |
Cathedral | St. Mary's Cathedral |
Patron saint | Immaculate Conception |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Daniel Robert Jenky, C.S.C. |
Vicar General | Paul Showalter, James E. Kruse |
Map | |
Website | |
www.cdop.org |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria (Latin: Dioecesis Peoriensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the central Illinois region of the United States.
The Diocese of Peoria was canonically erected on February 12, 1875. Its territory was taken from the former Diocese of Chicago. The first bishop of the diocese was John Lancaster Spalding. Later bishops included William E. Cousins (bishop from 1952 to 1958), John Baptist Franz, Edward William O'Rourke, and then O'Rourke's coadjutor bishop and later successor, John J. Myers (now Archbishop emeritus of Newark), who hosted Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta's December 1995 visit to the Peoria diocese.
The Diocese of Peoria comprises the Counties of Bureau, Champaign, DeWitt, Fulton, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Knox, LaSalle, Livingston, Logan, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Piatt, Putnam, Rock Island, Schuyler, Stark, Tazewell, Vermilion, Warren and Woodford. Aside from Peoria, the Illinois portions of the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa are also part of the Peoria Diocese. The St. John's Catholic Newman Center on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the St. Francis of Assisi Newman Center on the campus of Western Illinois University, John Paul II Catholic Newman Center on the campus of Illinois State University as well as the St. Joseph Newman Center on the campus of Bradley University are part of the Peoria Diocese.