Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington

The Diocese of Burlington (Dioecesis Burlingtonensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church for Vermont in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston.

The Diocese of Burlington was erected on July 29, 1853, by Pope Pius IX. The mother church of the diocese is the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Burlington, Vermont.

1784 to 1850
The first Mass said in what would become the state of Vermont was celebrated in 1666 by a Sulpician priest from Montreal, in the chapel of Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La Motte. The northern region of Vermont was largely settled in the 18th century by Catholic French Canadians who migrated south from the British Province of Quebec. In 1784, after the conclusion of the American Revolution, Pope Pius VI moved to remove American Catholics from the jurisdiction of the Diocese of London. He erected the Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, which included what was then the Vermont Republic. In 1789, the Vatican placed Vermont, along with the rest of the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Baltimore.

During the late 18th century, out of convenience, the bishops of Quebec continued to minister to Catholic settlers and Native Americans, mainly in northern Vermont. In 1801, Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore formally accepted the offer of Bishop Pierre Denaut of the Diocese of Quebec to care for French-speaking Catholics in Vermont. Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Boston in 1808, transferring Vermont to the new American diocese.

In the early 19th century, there were no Catholic priests residing in Vermont. Francis Matignon of Boston visited Burlington in 1815 and counted about 100 Catholic Canadians living there. Around 1818, Marie Migneault from Chambly, Quebec, came to Vermont and ministered to the settlers by Lake Champlain for several years. Bishop Jean-Louis de Cheverus, the first Bishop of Boston, later appointed Migneault as vicar-general of that part of the diocese. Migneault continued as vicar general until 1853.

Joseph Fenwick succeeded Cheverus as Bishop of Boston in December 1825. He visited Windsor, Vermont, in 1826. In 1827 he ordained James Fitton. Fitton served some time with the Passamaquoddy before being sent to serve the scattered Catholics in Vermont and New Hampshire. He visited Burlington in 1829.

In 1830, Fenwick sent Jeremiah O'Callaghan to Vermont to serve as its first resident priest. He visited successively Wallingford, Pittsford, and Vergennes, then settled in Burlington. O'Callaghan had St. Mary's church built. It served as his mission base. His territory extended from Rutland, Vermont in the south to the Canadian border in the north, a distance of about 100 mi and from Lake Champlain in the west to the Connecticut River in the east. St. Mary's Church in Burlington was destroyed by arson in May 1838. O'Callaghan served in Vermont for 23 years and was known as the "Apostle of Vermont."

In 1837, John Daley was sent by the Diocese of Boston to southern Vermont. He is described as an "eccentric, but very learned man". He usually made his headquarters at Rutland or Middlebury, Vermont, but spent most of his time traveling the state as a missionary. Daley went wherever Catholics lived without any particular schedule. Daley ministered in Vermont until 1854 and died in New York in 1870. An 1843 census showed the Catholic population of Vermont to be 4,940. As immigration from Europe and particularly Ireland to the United States increased at this time, the Catholic population in Vermont Catholic population also rose.

1850 to 1880
In 1850, Pope Pius IX elevated the Diocese of New York to a metropolitan archdiocese, assigning the Diocese of Boston, with its Vermont parishes, as a suffragan see.

In 1852, at a meeting of the bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of New York, the bishops decided that Vermont should have its own diocese. They made this proposal to the Vatican, with Burlington to be the Episcopal see. Bishop John Fitzpatrick of the Diocese of Boston recommended Louis de Goesbriand, vicar-general of the Diocese of Cleveland, as the first bishop of Burlington.

On July 29, 1853, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Burlington, taking Vermont from the Diocese of Boston. He designated the new diocese as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of New York, and appointed De Goesbriand as bishop.

In 1853, De Goesbriand arrived at Burlington. He was installed there the following day by Bishop Fitzpatrick. After his installation, De Goesbriand visited the entire diocese. He found about 20,000 Catholics scattered throughout Vermont. In 1855, he visited France and Ireland to recruit more priests for the diocese, bringing back several volunteers.

The first diocesan synod was held at Burlington in 1855. De Goesbriand appointed Thomas Lynch as vicar-general of the diocese in 1858. De Goesbriand started construction of the gothic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1861. Progress was slowed because of the Civil War. Local marble was used, quarried and from around Rutland and limestone from the Isle La Motte.

On February 12, 1875, Pope Pius IX elevated the Diocese of Boston to a metropolitan archdiocese and transferred the Diocese of Burlington from the Archdiocese of New York to the new archdiocese.

In the 1870s, De Goesbriand bought a 25 acre parcel of land on North Avenue in Burlington from a former editor of the Burlington Free Press. In 1879, under the supervision of future Bishop John Michaud, the diocese constructed the St. Joseph orphanage there.

1880 to 1950
By 1881, DeGoesbriand had a dozen priests to serve 6,000 congregants scattered throughout Vermont. In 1891, the diocese had the highest ratio of French speaking priests to francophone parishioners (1:1610) in New England. In 1892 De Goesbriand purchase land at Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La Motte in order to preserve its history. A small chapel was built. That same year, due to his age and failing health, he requested the appointment of a coadjutor bishop by the Vatican to assist. Pope Leo XIII appointed Michaud, then pastor of a parish of Bennington, Vermont, to this post. Handing many of his responsibilities to Michaud, De Goesbriand retired to St. Joseph's orphanage.

In August 1894, De Goesbriand consecrated the Diocese of Burlington to Saint Peter. De Goesbriand served as bishop of Burlington for 38 years. When he died in 1899, Michaud automatically succeed him as bishop of Burlington. De Goesbriand spent his entire family fortune constructing churches and orphanages in the diocese and assisting the poor; he died with only four dollars left to his name.

Michaud completed and dedicated the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1867. He built the Fanny Allen Hospital in Colchester, Vermont and staffed it with nuns from the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph. The Sisters of Charity from Providence, Rhode Island, operated another new hospital in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The Loretto Home for the Aged in Rutland was served by the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1904, Michaud invited the male Society of Saint Edmund to establish Saint Michael's College at Winooski Park, Vermont. In 1905, the Daughters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus came to Newport, Vermont, to open a mission, where they served as teachers, nurses and catechists. During his tenure, Michaud expanded the number of churches in Vermont from 72 to 94. The diocese had 75,000 Catholics, 102 priests, 286 religious sisters, and 20 parochial schools serving about 7,000 students.

Michaud died in 1908. In 1910, Pope Pius X appointed Joseph Rice, then pastor of St. Peter's Parish in Northbridge, Massachusetts, as the new bishop of Burlington. Rice placed De Goesbriand Memorial Hospital in Burlington under the care of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, and opened three high schools and Trinity College in Burlington. In November 1925, during a period of anti-Catholic agitation throughout the United States, the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on the steps of St. Augustine's Church at Montpelier, Vermont.

After Rice's death in 1938, Pope Pius XI appointed Matthew Brady from the Diocese of Hartford as his replacement. Brady erected 12 new parishes in Fairfax, Gilman, North Troy, Orleans, and South Burlington, all in Vermont. When Brady was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Manchester by Pope Pius XII in 1944, the next bishop was Edward Ryan from the Archdiocese of Boston. In 1945, Ryan purchased a 7 acre parcel adjacent to St. Joseph's orphanage and created the Don Bosco School for delinquent boys.

1950 to present
In 1954, Pius XII appointed Robert Joyce as the first auxiliary bishop of Burlington. When Ryan died in 1956, Pius XII named Joyce as his replacement. With Joyce's retirement in 1971, Pope Paul VI appointed John Marshall as the next bishop.

In 1972, an arsonist burned the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Marshall built a new cathedral with the same name on the same site in 1977. In 1974, Marshall closed St. Joseph's orphanage and eventually sold the property. It is now a condominium project known as 'Liberty House.' In 1981, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Abbey was founded in Westfield, Vermont.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop Kenneth Angell from the Diocese of Providence as the new bishop of Burlington. Under Angell, Catholic schools in the diocese experienced a 24% drop in enrollment between 1998 and 2008, from 3,190 to 2,431 students. Faced with a shortage of priests in Burlington, and a decline in weekly mass attendance, Angell consolidated Sacred Heart and St. Francis de Sales Parishes in Bennington as well as St. Cecilia and St. Frances Cabrini in East Barre, and closed Our Lady of the Lake in St. Albans.

In 1999, the Vatican elevated Saint Joseph Church in Burlington as the co-cathedral of the diocese. Burlington became one of only four American dioceses to have two active cathedral churches in the same city. In 2005, Pope John Paul II appointed Salvatore Matano from the Diocese of Providence as coadjutor bishop of the diocese. When Agnell retired several months later, Matano automatically became the new bishop of Burlington. In 2010, Matano ordained four priests, the highest number in the diocese in decades.

In 2014, Pope Francis appointed Auxiliary Bishop Christopher J. Coyne from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as the next diocesan bishop. He replaced Matano, who was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. Coyne's installation was celebrated on January 29, 2015, at the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph. In 2018, Coyne announced that the diocese was selling the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception due to a long period of low attendance. Its members were transferred to St. Joseph's, which became the sole cathedral in the diocese.

In June 2023, Francis appointed Coyne as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Msgr. John McDermott was named bishop of the diocese on May 6, 2024. McDermott was Coyne's vicar general, and with the former's move to Hartford, served as Burlington's Diocesan Administrator.

St. Joseph's Orphanage
St. Joseph's opened in 1854 in a former tavern. Staffed by the Sisters of Providence from Montreal, it initially housed fifty-eight orphans. St. Joseph's closed in 1974. In the 1990s, the Diocese of Burlington was sued by former residents of St. Joseph's Orphanage, claiming abuse by the staff. Over 100 former residents stated that they had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused by nuns, priests and lay staff workers from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Lawyers for the diocese originally asked the court to throw out the St. Joseph lawsuits, on the grounds that the victims' allegations could not be corroborated. Five priests who each at one time held the position of chaplain at St. Joseph's were also accused by victims of sexual abuse in unrelated litigation. The diocese ultimately paid over $300,000 to settle the claims of 60 former residents. Almost all of these settlements were in the form of an offer from the Diocese of $5000.00.

Anything children entered the orphanage with was taken away never to be seen again (exceptions were made in those few cases where children were put there by parents using it as a boarding school). Kids were immediately given a number which was marked in all the clothes which were chosen by the nuns for them to wear (an X next to the number meant that piece of clothing was theirs to keep). Usually it was not until children were in the Eighth grade that their clothes would receive an X as they would be leaving the orphanage before the next school year and would need some clothes to take with them. Any mail coming and going was opened and read. Any mistake usually was met with a beating. Failure to eat everything at meals resulted in one nun holding the child while another held the kid's nose closed and forced the food down their throat. Vomiting during a meal was considered an act of defiance and the nuns would force the child to eat the vomit, even off the floor. The nuns used any fears a child had against them, looking for ways they can torture the kids. A child who they worked hard unsuccessfully to make cry had onion juice squirted into her eyes. The children worked everyday cleaning every bit of the orphanage, including helping to care for the babies in the First Nursery and young kids in the Second Nursery. Failure to do the their jobs efficiently resulted in punishment. Children whose parents were divorced or unmarried were told they were the Devil's children and they needed to be punished. This seems to be a strong belief throughout the Diocese as the only value it ever saw in its orphans were what services they could provide the Diocesan members.

Paquette case
In 1994, the diocese was sued by Michael Gay, who claimed to have been sexually molested by Edward Paquette during the 1970s. Paquette had an early history of sexual abuse of children from his tenures in the Diocese of Fall River and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. In 1971, the Indiana diocese ordered Paquette to undergo electroconvulsive therapy to treat his pedophilia. Convinced that Paquette was cured, Bishop Marshall brought him into the Diocese of Burlington in 1972. He was finally suspended from priestly duties in 1978.

The diocese settled Gay's lawsuit for $965,000 in 2006, then settled two more lawsuits for $8.75 million and $3.6 million. Paquette was laicized in April 2009.

The diocese in 2013 settled 11 more sexual abuse cases for an undisclosed account. Nine of those cases were filed by victims of Paquette.

In February 2010, the diocese announced that it would sell its headquarters in Burlington and Camp Holy Cross in Colchester to pay sexual abuse victims. In May 2010, the diocese settled 26 lawsuits by former altar for sexual abuse by its clergy for $17.65 million.

The diocese in August 2019 released the names of 40 clergy since 1950 who had been "credibly accused" of sex abuse. Most of these men were deceased and none were in active ministry. Much of the abuse occurred at St Josephs, and all but one of these named acts took place before 2000.

Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan released an investigative report on St. Joseph's Orphanage in December 2020. A 2018 Buzzfeed article had claimed that staff had murdered residents there. The attorney general report found no evidence that any murders occurred at the facility. However, the investigation did find evidence of physical and sexual abuse of the residents.

In May 2022, the diocese settled a lawsuit brought by a man who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Roger W. Carlin. The plaintiff, filing the lawsuit in 2021, said that Carlin abused him at St. John Vianney church in South Burlington between 1966 and 1967.

Deaneries
As of 2023, the Diocese of Burlington had a Catholic population of approximately 110,000, with 36 active priests, 44 permanent deacons and 15 religious ministering in 68 parishes. The parishes are divided into 12 deaneries:


 * Addison
 * Bennington
 * Burlington
 * Caledonia
 * Capitol
 * Franklin
 * Orleans
 * Rutland
 * South Burlington
 * Windham
 * Windsor
 * Winooski

Bishops of Burlington

 * 1) Louis de Goesbriand (1853–1899)
 * 2) John Stephen Michaud (1899–1908)
 * 3) Joseph John Rice (1910–1938)
 * 4) Matthew Francis Brady (1938–1944), appointed Bishop of Manchester
 * 5) Edward Francis Ryan (1944–1956)
 * 6) Robert Francis Joyce (1956–1971)
 * 7) John Aloysius Marshall (1971–1992), appointed Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts
 * 8) Kenneth Anthony Angell (1992–2005)
 * 9) Salvatore Ronald Matano (2005–2014; coadjutor bishop 2005), appointed Bishop of Rochester
 * 10) Christopher J. Coyne (2015–2023), appointed coadjutor Archbishop of Hartford
 * 11) John Joseph McDermott (2024-present)

Auxiliary bishop
Robert Francis Joyce (1954–1956), appointed Bishop of Burlington

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

 * Bernard Flanagan, appointed Bishop of Norwich in 1953
 * Louis Gelineau, appointed Bishop of Providence in 1971

Education
As of 2023, the Diocese of Burlington included 12 Catholic schools with an enrollment (including catechetical students) of approximately 2,500. Student enrollment dropped 24% from 3,190 to 2,431 from 1999 to 2008. Dave Young is the superintendent of schools.

High schools

 * Mount Saint Joseph Academy – Rutland
 * Rice Memorial High School – South Burlington
 * Saint Michael Catholic School – Brattleboro

Elementary and middle schools

 * All Saints Catholic Academy – Morrisville (formerly Bishop John A. Marshall School)
 * Christ the King School – Burlington
 * Christ the King School – Rutland
 * Good Shepherd Catholic School – St. Johnsbury
 * Mater Christi School – Burlington
 * School of the Sacred Heart Saint Francis de Sales – Bennington
 * Saint Francis Xavier School – Winooski
 * Saint Michael Catholic School – Brattleboro
 * Saint Monica-Saint Michael School – Barre (formerly Central Vermont Catholic School and Saint Monica School)
 * St. Paul's Catholic School – Barton

Assets
In 2005, the Diocese of Burlington had net assets of $5,679,217. This figure includes assets acquired "at cost." An insurance company has estimated that it would cost $400 million to replace the physical assets of the diocese, including churches, schools, and nursing homes.

The Vermont Catholic Charities had total net assets of $3,874,935.

Notables

 * In 1808 Fanny Allen, daughter of Revolutionary War General Ethan Allen, converted to Catholicism and entered the novitiate of Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, where she was received as a member of the order.
 * Orestes Brownson, the Catholic author and philosopher, was born in Stockbridge in 1803.