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From the Pastor’s Desk
This past Friday we celebrated the day 150 years ago when our parish church became a cathedral. On October 23, 1870, our Diocese’s first bishop. Augustin Verot, formally took possession of this church that came to be known as the Cathedral of Saint Augustine. Since then, ten bishops have served the Lord’s flock, presiding from the cathedra (chair) on the west side of the sanctuary. That chair symbolizes the bishop’s responsibility to teach, govern and sanctify the people entrusted to his care.
The Diocese of St. Augustine has seen a lot of changes over all these years. When created, it encompassed all of Florida east of the Appalachicola River until the creation of the Diocese of Miami in 1958. Then, in 1968, when the Dioceses of Orlando and St. Petersburg were established, the diocesan boundaries were stretched all the way to Pensacola. Only seven years later, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee was created and our Diocese came to be the geographic size it is today – the seventeen counties of northeast Florida.
Certainly the State of Florida has grown dramatically from those early years. When the Diocese was established there were about 10,000 Catholics, 19 churches and 7 schools that were served by 12 priests. The Diocese was considered “mission territory” and the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Parish was responsible for the spiritual – as well as some financial – needs of the Diocese well into the 20th century. Today, in the 17 counties that make up our Diocese there are 53 parishes along with 14 missions; 25 elementary schools, 5 high schools, 9 early education centers and 1 special education school; 176 priests serve in some capacity in the Diocese along with 82 deacons and 106 religious sisters and 2 religious brothers. The total Catholic population is estimated at just less than 150,000 souls.
Looking ahead, our Cathedral Parish has much to be thankful for as we look back on these 150 years, along with all the years before since our founding in 1565. Let us ask the Lord to continue to bless us in proclaiming and living the Gospel of salvation!
Love,
Fr. Tom