, Des Moines, Iowa (2022)
1830 to 1900 Like other American dioceses, the area that makes up the present diocese was under the jurisdiction of a number of prelates. Most of these were purely academic because of no actual Catholic presence in the area. The first Catholic missionaries arrived in the Iowa area during the early 1830s. They were under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Saint Louis,
Joseph Rosati. In 1838,
Pope Gregory XVI erected the new
Diocese of Dubuque. This diocese initially included all of Iowa as well as a large part of the western United States. By 1850, the diocese only included the state of Iowa. The first mass in what would become the city of Des Moines was celebrated in a log hut in 1851 at Fort Des Moines by Alexander Hattenberger, a priest from
Ottumwa, Iowa. In 1856, the first St. Ambrose Church was built in Des Moines. In the late 19th century, Bishop
John Hennessy of Dubuque petitioned the Vatican to create a separate diocese for southern Iowa. While he envisioned Des Moines as the see city for this new diocese, in 1881 the Vatican instead erected the
Diocese of Davenport, including the Des Moines area. In 1899, the doctors of Dubuque founded the Mercy Des Moines School of Nursing in Des Moines. It is today the
Mercy College of Health Sciences.
1900 to 1967 On August 12, 1911,
Pope Pius X erected the new Diocese of Des Moines with territory from the Diocese of Davenport. Saint Ambrose Parish church became the
cathedral for the new diocese. The pope in 1912 appointed
Austin Dowling of the
Diocese of Providence as the first bishop of Des Moines. In 1918, Dowling founded Des Moines Catholic College. A year later,
Pope Benedict XV named Dowling as archbishop of the
Archdiocese of St. Paul. To replace Dowling in Des Moines, Benedict XV named
Thomas Drumm in 1919. Drumm died in 1933. In 1934,
Gerald Bergan was appointed the third bishop of Des Moines by
Pope Pius XI. He established a diocesan newspaper called
The Messenger.
Pope Pius XII named Bergan as archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Omaha in 1948. Bergan's replacement in Des Moines was
Edward Daly, named by the pope that same year. Daly died in 1964. Auxiliary Bishop
George Biskup of the Archdiocese of Dubuque was named by
Pope Paul VI as the fifth bishop of Des Moines in 1965. In 1966, he purchased from the Des Moines Golf and Country Club in
West Des Moines to construct
Dowling Catholic High School. He also started to implement the changes in the church as a result of the
Second Vatican Council reforms.
1967 to present In 1967, after Biskup was in Des Moines for only two years, Paul VI appointed him as coadjutor archbishop for the
Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In 1968, the pope named
Maurice Dingman as the next bishop of Des Moines. In 1979, while on his American tour, Pope
John Paul II visited the diocese on the suggestion of Joe Hays, a farmer in
Truro and on the invitation of Dingman. After arriving in Des Moines, the pope visited
St. Patrick Parish near Irish Settlement. He then celebrated a mass at the
Living History Farms in
Urbandale before leaving Iowa. Dingman retired due to bad health in 1986. In 1987, Auxiliary Bishop
William Bullock from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was made bishop of Des Moines. Bullock transferred to the
Diocese of Madison in 1993. Auxiliary Bishop
Joseph Charron from Saint Paul and Minneapolis succeeded Bullock in 1994. Charron retired in 2007. In 2008, yet another Auxiliary Bishop from Saint Paul and Minneapolis,
Richard Pates, was nominated bishop of Des Moines. In 2010, the diocese lost $600,000 to a
cybercrime attack. The
FBI ultimately recovered $180,000 for the diocese. Pates resigned in 2018. Pope Francis in 2019 named
William Joensen as the next bishop of Des Moines. In January 2023, the diocese released new policies on the treatment of
transgender individuals in diocesan churches, schools, and other facilities. ==Reports of sex abuse==