Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau

The Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau (Archidiœcesis Ancoragiensis–Junellensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, in southern Alaska in the United States. The archdiocese has a single suffragan diocese, the Diocese of Fairbanks.

The mother church cathedral of the archdiocese is Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral in Anchorage. The co-cathedral is the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau. As of 2023, the archbishop is Andrew E. Bellisario.

The Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau was erected in 2020 when Pope Francis merged the Archdiocese of Anchorage with the Diocese of Juneau.

1879 to 1951
John Althoff from the Canadian Diocese of Vancouver Island established the first permanent Catholic presence in Alaska, then a U.S. territory. His superior, Bishop Charles J. Seghers, sent Althoff to Wrangell, Alaska, to serve that town, the Cassiar mining district on the Stikine River, and the former Russian capital of Sitka.

Althoff founded Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Wrangell, Alaska, in 1879. On visits to Sitka, he would celebrate mass in an old Russian carriage barn. After the discovery of gold near Juneau, Althoff moved his mission there. He celebrated the first mass and baptism in an interdenominational "Log Cabin Church" in 1882.

The Alaska missions continued to expand as more missionaries arrived in the region. In 1894, Pope Leo XIII erected the Prefecture Apostolic of Alaska in Juneau, taking all of Alaska from the Canadian Dioceses of Vancouver Island and New Westminster.

In 1916, Pope Benedict XV elevated the prefecture apostolic to a vicariate apostolic. He appointed Joseph Crimont, the prefect apostolic of Alaska, as its vicar apostolic in 1917.



1951 to 1975
Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Juneau on June 23, 1951. The new diocese was carved out of the former Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska. The Anchorage area would remain part of the Diocese of Juneau and the remainder of the vicariate for the next 15 years.

During the second half of the 20th century, Alaska's population and business growth centered around Anchorage, even though Juneau remained the state's capital. In 1966, Pope Paul VI erected the Archdiocese of Anchorage and appointed Joseph T. Ryan from the Diocese of Albany as the first archbishop of Anchorage.

The new archdiocese took the territory "lying west of Mount Saint Elias and Icy Bay" from the Diocese of Juneau, along with the rest of the vicariate apostolic. The pope designated the Church of the Holy Family in Anchorage as its cathedral church. The Dioceses of Fairbanks and Juneau were now the suffragan sees of the new Archdiocese of Anchorage.

1975 to 2020
After Ryan was named coadjutor archbishop for the Military Vicariate in 1975, Pope Paul VI appointed Bishop Francis Hurley of Juneau as the second archbishop of Anchorage. In 1981, during a brief airport layover in Anchorage, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass on the Anchorage Park Strip before 50,000 people. Hurley resigned in 2001.

To replace Hurley, John Paul II in 1991 appointed Bishop Roger Schwietz of the Diocese of Duluth as the next archbishop of Anchorage. As the archdiocese continued to grow, the Cathedral of the Holy Family became too small to host major diocesan services. Schwietz petitioned the Holy See in 2013 to designate Our Lady of Guadalupe Church as a co-cathedral, keeping Holy Family as the historic cathedral. The Vatican granted its approval in 2014. Schwietz retired in 2015.

Pope Francis in 2016 appointed Bishop Paul D. Etienne of the Diocese of Cheyenne as the next archbishop of Anchorage. He was named coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Seattle in 2019.

2020 to present
On May 19, 2020, Pope Francis announced the canonical erection of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau as a new jurisdiction with the territory of the former Archdiocese of Anchorage and the former Diocese of Juneau, with the canonical suppression of the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Diocese of Juneau taking effect upon the actual erection of the new archdiocese. The pope simultaneously appointed Bishop Andrew E. Bellisario, then Bishop of Juneau and Apostolic Administrator of Anchorage, as the first Archbishop of Anchorage-Juneau and designated the Diocese of Fairbanks as the only suffragan diocese of the new jurisdiction.

The dynamics of the COVID pandemic in 2020 forced a delay in the formal erection of the new archdiocese and installation of the new archbishop until the 17th of September, with a further restriction that the laity could participate only virtually. Thus, the Archbishop-Elect fulfilled the prescription of Canon 382 §3 of the Codex Juris Canonici whereby the bishop-elect of a new diocese "takes canonical possession when he has seen to the communication of the same letter to the clergy and people present in the cathedral church" by holding the letter of appointment in front of a livestream camera for the faithful who were present virtually in addition to showing it to the clergy who were present in person.

The papal decree erecting the new metropolitan archdiocese designated the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, then the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Anchorage, as the new jurisdiction's cathedral and the Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, then the cathedral of the Diocese of Juneau, as the new jurisdiction's co-cathedral. The Church of the Holy Family in Anchorage lost its role as a cathedral with the canonical suppression of the Archdiocese of Anchorage, but it continues to serve as a parish church.

Coat of arms of Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau
The coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau combines the following elements, most of which are taken from the coats of arms of the former Diocese of Juneau and the former Archdiocese of Anchorage shown in the history section above.


 * A horizontal white line representing the horizon separating earth and sky,
 * Five blue and white wavy lines, representing the water, taken from the coat of arms of the former Diocese of Juneau but styled differently,
 * The Big Dipper (or Great Bear, Ursa Major) Constellation, representing the Alaska State Flag and the State of Alaska, taken from the coat of arms of the former Diocese of Juneau, with the two stars marking the end of its bowl pointing to
 * Polaris, the North Star, representing its role as a navigation aid to travelers and also representing Mary, mother of Jesus, as “Star of the Sea,” also taken from the coat of arms of the former Archdiocese of Juneau,
 * The crescent moon, representing the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the titular saint of the Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, taken from the Coat of Arms of the former Diocese of Juneau, and
 * The triple-pronged anchor, representing the virtue of hope, the Holy Trinity, and the City of Anchorage, taken from the Coat of Arms of the former Archdiocese of Anchorage.

Several of these symbols -- notably the blue and white wavy lines (water), Polaris, and the anchor -- also reflect the maritime heritage of the region.

Bishops of Juneau

 * 1) Robert Dermot O'Flanagan (1951-1968)
 * 2) Francis Thomas Hurley (1971-1976), appointed archbishop of Anchorage
 * 3) Michael Hughes Kenny (1979-1995)
 * 4) Michael William Warfel (1996-2007), appointed bishop of Great Falls-Billings
 * 5) Edward James Burns (2009-2017), appointed bishop of Dallas
 * 6) Andrew Eugene Bellisario (2017–2020), appointed archbishop of Anchorage–Juneau

Archbishops of Anchorage

 * 1) John Joseph Thomas Ryan (1966–1975), appointed coadjutor archbishop for the Military Services and subsequently succeeded to that see.
 * 2) Francis Thomas Hurley (1976–2001)
 * 3) Roger Lawrence Schwietz (2001–2016)
 * 4) Paul Dennis Etienne (2016–2019), appointed coadjutor archbishop of Seattle and subsequently succeeded to that see.

Archbishops of Anchorage–Juneau

 * 1) Andrew E. Bellisario (2020–present)

Priest of the former Archdiocese of Anchorage who became bishop of another diocese

 * Michael William Warfel, appointed Bishop of Juneau in 1996

Catholic education

 * Lumen Christi Junior/Senior High School - Anchorage
 * Holy Name Catholic School (Preschool) - Ketchikan
 * Our Lady of the Valley Catholic School (Grades K-8) - Wasilla
 * Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School (Grades Pre-K-6) - Anchorage

Publications
Before the merger, the Archdiocese of Anchorage published a monthly newspaper, Catholic Anchor, with approximately 11,000 subscribers. It was established in April 1999. The Diocese of Juneau published its newspaper, The Inside Passage, on its web site. Both publications were replaced after the merge with a new monthly publication, the North Star Catholic.

Suffragan see
The ecclesiastical province of Anchorage–Juneau encompasses the state of Alaska. The sole suffragan diocese is the Diocese of Fairbanks. Before the merger, the Diocese of Juneau and the Diocese of Fairbanks were suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of Anchorage.

Sex abuse
The archdiocese was part of a sexual abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Boston and other defendants in 2006. Five men in Alaska and Massachusetts had accused Frank Murphy of sexual abuse. Murphy left Anchorage for Boston in 1985, where he worked as a chaplain, after local police started investigating complaints against him. Bishop Hurley told parishioners that Murphy was being treated for alcohol abuse. Murphy was finally forced out of the priesthood in 1995.

In October 2018, Bishop Etienne said that he would establish an independent commission to examine the personnel files of the archdiocese over the past 50 years for any new credible accusations of sexual abuse by priests against minors. In January 2020, the commission released the names of 14 clergy and diocesan employees with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.