The Catholic Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee (Latin: Dioecesis Pensacolensis–Talloseiensis) is a Catholic diocese in the Florida Panhandle region of the United States. The patron saint of the diocese is St. Michael the Archangel.
== Main churches ==
The three main churches of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee are:
Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel in Pensacola, a minor basilica that is an historic church
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Pensacola, the episcopal see
Co-Cathedral of Saint Thomas More in Tallahassee
== Statistics ==
As of 2024, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee served 71,445 Catholics on 14,000 mi2 in 52 parishes and 3 missions with 67 priests (53 diocesan, 14 religious), 64 deacons, 22 lay religious (8 brothers, 15 sisters), and 19 seminarians.
== History ==
=== Background ===
By 1606, Florida was under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Havana in Cuba. By the early 1700's, the Spanish Franciscans had established a network of 40 missions in Northern and Central Florida, with 70 priests ministering to over 25,000 Native American converts. However, raids by British settlers and their Creek Native American allies from the Carolinas eventually shut down the missions. Part of the reason for the raids was that the Spanish colonists gave refuge to enslaved people who had escaped the Carolinas. A number of Timucuan Catholic converts in Northern Florida were slaughtered during these incursions.
After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Spain ceded all of Florida to Great Britain for the return of Cuba. Given the antagonism of Protestant Great Britain to Catholicism, the majority of the Catholic population in Florida fled to Cuba. After the American Revolution, Spain regained control of Florida in 1784.
In 1793, the Vatican changed the jurisdiction for Florida Catholics from Havana to the Apostolic Vicariate of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, based in New Orleans. In the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded all of Florida to the United States, which established the Florida Territory in 1821.
In 1825, Pope Leo XII erected the Vicariate of Alabama and Florida, which included all of Florida, based in Mobile, Alabama. Four years later, Pope Pius VIII in 1829 erected the Diocese of Mobile, giving it jurisdiction over the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River.
St. Michael the Archangel Parish was established in 1781 in Pensacola. The first Catholic church in Tallahassee, Blessed Sacrament, was finished in 1845.
In 1968, the Florida portion of the Diocese of Mobile was transferred into the Diocese of St. Augustine, which included the rest of Florida.
=== Establishment and early history ===
Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee in 1975 with territories split off from the Diocese of St. Augustine. The pope named Auxiliary Bishop René Gracida of the Archdiocese of Miami as the first bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
In 1983, Gracida transferred to the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Keith Symons of the Diocese of St. Petersburg replaced him in Pensacola-Tallahassee. Symons was made bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach in 1990.
The next bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee was Auxiliary Bishop John M. Smith from the Archdiocese of Newark, taking office in 1991. In 1995, he was made coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Trenton. John Paul II replaced Smith in 1997 with Auxiliary Bishop John Ricard of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
=== Later history ===
Thomas Crandall was arrested in December 2001 by police acting on information from a confidential informant. The police found methamphetamine and ecstasy in his Jeep and the rectory. An investigation later determined that Crandall had stolen $100,000 from St. Rose of Lima Parish in Milton. He was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to 51 months in prison. He was permanently removed from priestly ministry that same year. Crandall was convicted in 2006 of possessing child pornography and sentenced to ten years in prison.
Ricard served in the diocese until his retirement in 2011. Pope Benedict XVI named Gregory Parkes from the Diocese of Orlando as the fifth bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 2012. In 2016, Pope Francis named him bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg.
Francis named William Wack as the next bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 2017. During his tenure as bishop, Wack has urged Catholics in his diocese to be missionary disciples and has called for them to be more evangelical in describing their relationship with Christ saying: "Catholics have not always been comfortable talking about a 'personal relationship with Jesus Christ.' But even though that is not our preferred language, we know innately that this is what God wants for us. We can all start by asking God to help us to grow in our relationship with Jesus in the Holy Spirit.As of November 2024, Wack is the bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
=== Sex abuse ===
In April 1998, a 53-year-old man informed a priest and Archbishop John C. Favalora of the Archdiocese of Miami that Bishop Symons, then bishop of Palm Beach, had sexually abused him when he was an altar server decades earlier. When confronted, Symons admitted his guilt. In June 1998, Pope John Paul II accepted Symons' resignation as bishop of Palm Beach.
== Bishops ==
=== Bishops of Pensacola–Tallahassee ===
René Henry Gracida (1975 – 1983), appointed Bishop of Corpus Christi
Joseph Keith Symons (1983 – 1990), appointed Bishop of Palm Beach
John Mortimer Smith (1991 – 1995), appointed Coadjutor Bishop and later Bishop of Trenton
John Huston Ricard (1997 – 2011)
Gregory Lawrence Parkes (2012 – 2016), appointed Bishop of Saint Petersburg
William Albert Wack (2017 – present)
=== Diocese priest who later became a bishop ===
Martin Holley, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Washington in 2004 and later Bishop of Memphis
== Catholic high schools ==
John Paul II Catholic High School – Tallahassee
Pensacola Catholic High School – Pensacola
== References ==
== Sources and external links ==
GCatholic, with Google map & satellite photo - data for most sections
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee Official Site