1800 to 1887 As part of the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Wyoming area was theoretically under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the
Bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas in New Orleans. In 1827, it was placed under the bishop of the
Dioceses of St. Louis. On July 5, 1840, Jesuit missionary
Pierre-Jean De Smet offered the first
mass in the Wyoming area, east of the present-day town of
Daniel. A monument to the event was later erected on this site.
Lake De Smet is named after him. In 1851,
John Miège was installed in a ceremony in St. Louis as vicar apostolic for the Indian Territory east of the
Rocky Mountains. The vicariate included the present states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, the parts of North and South Dakota west of the
Missouri River, Wyoming, Montana, and a part of Colorado. On January 6, 1857
Pope Pius IX established the Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska from the
Apostolic Vicariate of Indian Territory. In 1859, Pius IX named the trappist monk
James O'Gorman, prior of
New Melleray Abbey, near Dubuque, Iowa, as the vicar apostolic. In 1867, O'Gorman assigned William Kelly as the first resident priest of
Cheyenne. Kelly's responsibilities included visiting the railroad camps west of the town. Eugene Cusson was the first resident priest assigned to
Laramie. In 1875, Cusson persuaded the
Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth to come to Laramie, where they opened a hospital in a house donated by the
Union Pacific Railroad. In 1884, the Jesuits established St. Stephens Mission on the
Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. The Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska was elevated to the
Diocese of Omaha by
Pope Leo XIII on October 2, 1885. At the time, the diocese included all of Nebraska and Wyoming.
1887 to 1900 On August 2, 1887,
Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Cheyenne, removing its territory from the Diocese of Omaha. Burke faced attacks by the
American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic and anti-Irish hate group. The virulence forced the
Sisters of Charity to abandon their institutions in the diocese. Burke traveled to Rome to petition the Vatican to attach the diocese to a more established one, citing the dire conditions in Wyoming. The pope denied his request. In a letter to
Katharine Drexel, Burke described himself as a "bishop in name only" without parishioners or priests. In 1893,
Pope Leo XIII attached the Diocese of Cheyenne to the
Archdiocese of Dubuque, and transferred Burke to the
Diocese of Saint Joseph. The Diocese of Cheyenne was without a bishop for the next three years. On December 18, 1896,
Thomas Lenihan of the Archdiocese of Dubuque was named the second bishop of Cheyenne by Leo XIII. When Lenihan arrived in Cheyenne in 1897, the diocese contained eight priests, nine churches, and one parochial school for 3,000 Catholics. By the time of his death in 1901, there were 6,000 Catholics, 26 churches, 15 priests, and four parochial schools.
1900 to 1950 On June 10, 1902, Pope Leo XIII appointed
James Keane from the
Archdiocese of St. Paul as the third bishop of Cheyenne. Keane came to Wyoming at a time of increasing population and economic expansion. Keane successfully recruited priests to serve in the diocese. The diocese was incorporated according to Wyoming law. The diocesan parishes were also incorporated, with the bishop, the pastor and two lay trustees serving as a corporate board for each parish. Keane was successful in his appeals to the newly formed
Catholic Church Extension Society for funds to expand the church across the state. He also directed the building of Cheyenne's St. Mary's Cathedral and a new episcopal residence. The cathedral was dedicated in 1909. He served as bishop for nine years in Cheyenne before being named archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1911. Newell resigned in 1978. On April 25, 1978,
Pope Paul VI named Auxiliary Bishop
Joseph Hart as the sixth bishop of Cheyenne. During his tenure as bishop, Hart established the annual Bishop's Appeal and ordained 25 priests for the diocese. On December 14, 1999,
David L. Ricken was appointed as
coadjutor bishop of the diocese by
Pope John Paul II. Hart resigned in 2001 and Ricken automatically succeeded him as bishop of Cheyenne. While bishop of Cheyenne, Ricken co-founded
Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming, established the Wyoming School of Catholic Thought at Wyoming Catholic College, and founded the John Paul II Catholic School in
Gillette, Wyoming. Ricken oversaw the building of a new building for St. Mary's Catholic School in Cheyenne. He went on to be archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Anchorage in 2016. His replacement in Cheyenne was
Steven Biegler, in 2017. Biegler is the current bishop of Cheyenne.
Sex abuse Anthony Jablonowski was convicted in April 2004 of taking indecent, immodest or immoral liberties with a minor during the early 1980s in Guernsey. The priest was sentenced to 15 months to seven years in prison. Jablonowski was later
laicized. Bishop Joseph Hart's behavior was surrounded by controversy for years. At one point, in 2015, Bishop Etienne requested an investigation by the
Vatican, and suspended Hart from performing masses. Hart was never prosecuted. In January 2021, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican cleared Hart of seven sexual abuse charges and stated that five other charges could not be proven. After the Congregation's decision, Bishop Biegler stated that he believed the victims. The Congregation rebuked Hart "for his flagrant lack of prudence as a priest and bishop for being alone with minors." In June 2019, the diocese released a list of "credibly accused clergy" included 30 victims, 29 of whom were minors, with more victims coming forth in August 2019. == Statistics ==