Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento

The Diocese of Sacramento (Diœcesis Sacramentensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The mother church of the Diocese of Sacramento is the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento. The diocese was established by Pope Leo XIII on May 28, 1886. The current bishop, as of 2023, is Jaime Soto.

Territory
The Diocese of Sacramento contains the following counties:

Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Tehama, Plumas, Glenn, Butte, Sierra, Colusa, Sutter, Yuba, Nevada, Yolo, Placer, Solano, Sacramento, El Dorado, and Amador.

1850 to 1886
The first Catholic mass in northern California was celebrated in 1850 by Peter Anderson in a private home in Sacramento. One of the attendees that day was California Governor Peter Burnett, who later donated to Anderson a property in Sacramento for a new church. Anderson built Saint Rose, a mission church of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

In 1860, the Vatican erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Marysville, with jurisdiction over all of northern California and western Nevada. Eight years later, the Vatican suppressed the vicariate and established the Diocese of Grass Valley in its place. The pope named Patrick Manogue as its bishop. The Catholic population, centered in mining towns and farming communities, would rise and fall as economic conditions changed in them.

1886 to 1922
Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Sacramento in 1886, taking its territory from the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of Grass Valley, which the Vatican suppressed. The new diocese covered the eastern section of northern California (excluding the coastal counties) and western Nevada. The pope named Manogue, then bishop of Grass Valley as the first bishop of Sacramento.

In 1887, Manogue laid the cornerstone for the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento. When it was dedicated in 1889, the cathedral was the largest church of any denomination west of the Mississippi River. Manogue died in 1895. Leo XIII in 1896 named Thomas Grace of Sacramento as his replacement as bishop.

Grace dedicated St. Patrick Church in Scotia and St. Joseph Church in Redding in 1905. In 1906, he received a property deed in Red Bluff to be used for a hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy. In 1919, Grace dedicated St. Gall Catholic Church in Gardnerville, Nevada. Grace helped launch the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Herald, in 1908. Grace died in 1921.

1922 to 1958
In 1922, Pope Pius XI named Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Keane of Sacramento as the third bishop of Sacramento. During his six-year tenure, Keane was instrumental in the formation of the parochial school system. He also founded several new parishes and recruited new priests and vocations. Keane died in 1928.

The next bishop of Sacramento was Robert Armstrong of the Diocese of Spokane, appointed by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Armstrong institutionalized social work within the diocese and upgraded its school system. In 1931, Pius XI erected the Diocese of Reno, taking all the Nevada counties away from the Diocese of Sacramento.

By 1957, the Diocese of Sacramento had a Catholic population of 209,281, a 255% increase over 1940. Armstrong established 28 new parishes during his tenure. Pope Pius XII named Auxiliary Bishop Joseph McGucken of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as coadjutor bishop in 1955 to assist Armstrong. When Armstrong died in 1957 after 28 years as bishop, McGucken automatically succeeded him as bishop.

1958 to 1980
In his five years as bishop, McGucken authorized, built or approved for development nine parishes, three high schools, 33 new church buildings and one minor seminary. He became archbishop of San Francisco in 1962. To replace McGucken, Pope John XXIII named Auxiliary Bishop Alden Bell of Los Angeles as the next bishop of Sacramento.

Bell was responsible for implementing the reforms from the Second Vatican Council in the diocese. Many parishes began parish councils at this time, and Bell encouraged the emergence of lay ministry in the diocese. He focused on the development of high schools throughout the diocese. Bell initiated a fund drive to ease costs, build new schools, expand religious education programs, and build a home for the elderly.

In 1962, the Vatican erected the Dioceses of Stockton and Santa Rosa, taking several counties from the Diocese of Sacramento. At the same time, the Vatican transferred Solano County from the Archdiocese of San Francisco to Sacramento. Four years later, the Vatican also moved Alpine County from Sacramento to Stockton.

1980 to present
When Bell retired in 1979, Pope John Paul II selected Auxiliary Bishop Francis Quinn of San Francisco as the next bishop of Sacramento. From 1980 to 1992, Quinn establish seven new parishes, several missions, two elementary schools, and one high school in the diocese. He oversaw a ten-year pastoral plan for the diocese as well as a spiritual renewal program, reorganized the deanery structure, initiated a diocesan pastoral council, and celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the diocese. Quinn retired in 1993.

The next bishop of Sacramento was Bishop William Weigand of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, named by John Paul II in 1993. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI named Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto from the Diocese of Orange as coadjutor bishop to assist Weigand. When Weigand retired in 2008, Soto became the next bishop.

As of 2023, Soto is the current bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento.

Reports of sex abuse
In December 1991, after Sacramento police started investigating Gerardo Beltran Rico on charges of sexual abuse of minors earlier that year, he fled to Mexico. A California arrest warrant for molesting two girls, ages six and fourteen was issued in 1992. In March 2007, Hector Rubio sued the diocese, accusing it of negligence in allowing Beltran to molest him. Beltran was arrested in Mexico in March 2008, but was freed by a Mexican court in August 2008. By 2023, 15 men and women had accused Rico of sexually abusing them when they were children.

In 1995, the diocese started receiving complaints of sexual abuse against Francisco Javier Garcia. He fled to Mexico that same year to avoid arrest. In 2002, one of the original accusers, known as John Doe, sued the diocese, claiming that Garcia had sexually abused him from 1970 to 1975. He was ultimately accused of sexually abusing 24 boys over a 22-year period.

The Diocese of Sacramento in 2005 agree to pay a $35 million settlement to 33 victims of sexual abuse by diocesan clergy.

Hector Coria Gonzales was arrested in May 2014 on charges of statutory rape and oral copulation. He had been having a sexual relationship with a 16 year old girl since 2013. The victim stated that the relationship was consensual. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual intercourse and was sentenced in August 2014 to 90 days in jail and three years of probation.

In April 2019, the Diocese of Sacramento provided the names of 46 priests and deacons who were credibly accused of sexually abusing 130 minors and adults, ages 25 or younger, from 1950 to 2019. In 2019, the Diocese of Sacramento and five other dioceses were subpoenaed by California State Attorney Xavier Becerra to investigate their procedures for handling sexual abuse allegations against clergy.

In February 2023, the diocese reported that it was facing over 200 lawsuits relating to sexual abuse by clergy or scouting leaders. A large number of these lawsuits were related to allegations against Rico, Garcia, and Porras. Bishop Soto said that filing for bankruptcy protection was a real possibility.

Mario Blanco Porras, who was laicized in 1973 for misconduct unrelated to sexual abuse, had been accused by 2023 of sexually assaulting 21 boys in several parishes.

On December 9, 2023, the diocese announced it would declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by March 2024 in response to the more than 250 sex abuse lawsuits the diocese has been facing. In March 2024, the diocese announced that it would file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition by no later than April 1, 2024. The diocese officially filed for bankruptcy on April 1.

Bishops of Sacramento

 * 1) Patrick Manogue (1886–1895)
 * 2) Thomas Grace (1896–1921)
 * 3) Patrick Joseph James Keane (1922–1928)
 * 4) Robert John Armstrong (1929–1957)
 * 5) Joseph Thomas McGucken (1957–1962), appointed Archbishop of San Francisco
 * 6) Alden John Bell (1962–1980)
 * 7) Francis Anthony Quinn (1979–1993)
 * 8) William Keith Weigand (1993–2008)
 * 9) Jaime Soto (2008–present)

Coadjutor bishops

 * Joseph Thomas McGucken (1955-1957)
 * Jaime Soto (2007-2008)

Auxiliary bishops

 * Patrick Joseph James Keane (1920–1922), appointed Bishop of Sacramento
 * John Stephen Cummins (1974–1977), appointed Bishop of Oakland
 * Alphonse Gallegos (1981–1991)
 * Richard John Garcia (1997–2006), appointed Bishop of Monterey in California
 * Myron Joseph Cotta (2014–2018), appointed Bishop of Stockton
 * Reynaldo Bersabal (2024-present)

Other diocese priest who became bishop
Richard Brendan Higgins, appointed auxiliary bishop of the US military in 2004

Churches
The Diocese of Sacramento has over 150 parish and mission churches in its 20 counties.

Education
, the Diocese of Sacramento had a school enrollment of approximately 13,000.

High schools

 * Christian Brothers High School – Sacramento
 * Cristo Rey High School – Sacramento
 * Jesuit High School – Carmichael
 * Mercy High School – Red Bluff
 * St. Francis High School – Sacramento
 * St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School – Vallejo

Closed high schools

 * Bishop Manogue High School – Sacramento (closed 1993). Merged with Christian Brothers High School to create a coed campus.
 * Bishop Quinn High School – Palo Cedro (closed 2008)
 * Loretto High School – Sacramento (closed 2009)
 * St. Stephen Academy – Sacramento (closed 2009)

Closed seminaries
St. Pius X Minor Seminary – Rio Dell (1955-1961) then moved to Galt (1961-1978)

Media
The Diocese of Sacramento owns Radio Santísimo Sacramento, which operates KCVV in Sacramento and KPYV in Oroville.