The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Catharines () (erected 22 November 1958) is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Toronto in St. Catharines, Ontario. It covers the municipalities of Niagara Region and Haldimand County.
Bishops
Ordinaries
Thomas Joseph McCarthy (9 November 1958 Appointed - 7 July 1978 Resigned) Thomas Benjamin Fulton (7 July 1978 Appointed - 2 February 1994 Retired) John Aloysius O’Mara (2 February 1994 Appointed - 9 November 2001 Retired) James Matthew Wingle (9 November 2001 Appointed - 7 April 2010 Resigned) Gerard Paul Bergie (14 September 2010 Appointed - )
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
Frederick Joseph Colli, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ottawa, Ontario in 1994
Richard John Grecco, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of London, Ontario in 1997
Wayne Joseph Kirkpatrick, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto, Ontario in 2012
History
The Diocese of St. Catharines underwent considerable change and consolidation from 1982 to 1997, in terms of episcopal leadership, spiritual renewal, the first ever lay diocesan congress, and Catholic secondary schools. Bishop John A. O'Mara made the congress the primary diocesan instrument to prepare local Catholics for the Great Jubilee in the year 2000. Priests and people have also celebrated many notable anniversaries and undertaken a number of church renovations and expansions, the most impressive among them being the wholesale restoration of the cathedral.
The founding bishop of the diocese, Most Rev. Thomas J. McCarthy, died on November 15, 1986. He had been bishop for twenty years, from 1958 to 1978, during which time he guided the local church through the many reforms in liturgy and governance brought about by the implementation of Vatican II.
Schools
Since 1982 Catholic secondary education in the diocese has experienced tremendous growth in the number of students and new schools. Added to the roster of high schools were St. Paul in Niagara Falls (1982); Holy Cross in St. Catharines, 1985; Lakeshore Catholic in Port Colborne (1988); St. Michael in Niagara Falls (1989); Monsignor Clancy in Thorold (1989); Blessed Trinity in Grimsby (1994); St. Francis and Ecole secondaire Jean Vanier (Saint-Jean Brebeuf) in St. Catharines (1995). Major renovations and expansion have been carried out at Lakeshore Catholic, St. Paul, Notre Dame, Denis Morris and Holy Cross.
Niagara Catholic District School Board
Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board
Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir
Restoration
The largest restoration project was the cathedral parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria. More than one million dollars was spent on the work, which included a new pipe organ, work on the foundation, and repairs to the bell tower. The diocese also renovated the former Church of the Resurrection on Merrittville Highway near Brock University for a diocesan pastoral centre. It houses the Chancery, the diocesan archives, the Marriage Tribunal, the Office of Religious Education, the diocesan newspaper and a pastoral/theological resource library.