1700 to 1868 Before and during the
American Revolutionary War, the Catholics in all of the British colonies in America were under the jurisdiction of the
Apostolic Vicariate of the London District in England. Discrimination and persecution of Catholics in the North Carolina colony was common until it became a royal colony in 1729. Anyone wanting to hold public office had to sign an oath stating that
Protestantism was the true Christian faith. With the passage of the
U.S. Constitution in 1789 after the
American Revolution, Catholics were guaranteed freedom of worship throughout the new nation.
Pope Pius VI erected the
Prefecture Apostolic of the United States in 1784, encompassing the entire United States. Five years later, he converted the prefecture into the
Diocese of Baltimore. The
Diocese of Charleston was erected by
Pope Pius VII on July 11, 1820. The new diocese included states of
Georgia, North Carolina, and
South Carolina, all removed from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. During the early 19th century, Irish Catholic immigrants started entering North Carolina to work on the railroads and other construction projects. The first Catholic church in Raleigh was built in 1834. By 1860, there were 350 Catholics living in seven North Carolina parishes. In 1872, Pius IX appointed Gibbons as bishop of the
Diocese of Richmond. The Vatican would not replace Gibbons in North Carolina for the next 11 years. In 1876, Benedictine monks from St. Vincent's Archabbey in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania, arrived in
Belmont to establish Belmont priory. In 1881, Leo XIII appointed
Henry P. Northrop as the new vicar apostolic of North Carolina. Two years later, the pope named Northrup to also serve as bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. Northrup held both positions until 1888, when the Vatican allowed him to resign as vicar apostolic and only serve as bishop of Charleston. In 1888, Leo XIII appointed
Leo Michael Haid to replace Northrup as
apostolic vicar of North Carolina, while allow Haid to remain as abbot of Belmont. In 1910,
Pope Pius X designated Belmont Abbey as a
territorial abbey, giving it control of eight counties from the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina to Belmont Abbey. Haid now led two different Catholic jurisdictions in North Carolina. Haid died in 1924.
1924 to 1962 On December 12, 1924,
Pope Pius XI elevated the Apostolic Vicariate of North Carolina into the Diocese of Raleigh, making it the first Catholic diocese in North Carolina. The pope appointed Monsignor
William Hafey of Baltimore as its first bishop. In 1937, Pius XI named Hafey as
coadjutor bishop of the
Diocese of Scranton. To replace Hafey as bishop of Raleigh, the pope appointed Monsignor
Eugene J. McGuinness from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that same year. In 1944,
Pope Pius XII transferred seven counties from Belmont Abbey to the Diocese of Raleigh. Later in 1944, Pius XII named McGuiness as bishop of the
Diocese of Oklahoma City. Pius XII appointed Monsignor
Vincent Waters from the Diocese of Richmond as the new bishop of Raleigh in 1944. Waters was accused by some of the diocesan clergy of holding on to idle church property worth millions of dollars while some
parishes were in debt. He also denied requests for the creation of a priests' senate; 20% of his priests sent a request to the Vatican asking for Waters' removal. He described
racial segregation as a product of "darkness," and declared that "the time has come for it to end." He also said,"I am not unmindful, as a Southerner, of the force of this virus of prejudice among some persons in the South, as well as in the North. I know, however, that there is a cure for this virus, and that is our faith."
Pope John XXIII transferred
Gaston County, Belmont Abbey's last county, to the Diocese of Raleigh in 1960. Although it remained a territorial abbey, Belmont now only had jurisdiction over its own campus. In 1962, John XXIII elevated the
Diocese of Atlanta to the Archdiocese of Atlanta. He designated the Diocese of Raleigh and Belmont Abbey as suffragans of the new archdiocese.
1962 to present In 1962, John XXIII elevated the
Diocese of Atlanta to the Archdiocese of Atlanta and transferred the Diocese of Raleigh to it from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Pope Paul VI in 1971 erected the
Diocese of Charlotte. He removed Belmont Abbey and several counties from the Diocese of Raleigh. This action created the current boundaries of the Diocese of Raleigh. In 1972, Waters expelled five
Sisters of Providence nuns from the diocese for not wearing their
religious habits while teaching. Groundbreaking for the new cathedral occurred in 2014, and the cathedral was completed in 2017. After the
tornado outbreak of April 2011, which killed 24 people in North Carolina and other states, Burbidge urged Catholics to include victims and survivors in their
Holy Week prayers. He directed the diocese's parishes and mission churches to hold a special collection for a disaster relief fund to be used to help survivors. In 2016,
Pope Francis appointed Burbidge as bishop of the
Diocese of Arlington. He appointed Auxiliary Bishop
Luis Zarama from the Archdiocese of Atlanta as the first Hispanic bishop of Raleigh. As of 2023, Zarama is the current bishop of the diocese.
Cathedral churches Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Raleigh in Raleigh. It was designed by the architects O'Brien and Keane in the
Romanesque Revival style. It contains a
cruciform floor plan with a dome over the crossing. Its 42 stained glass windows and
stations of the cross came from closed churches in the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Beyer Studio restored the windows before they were installed. Construction on the cathedral commenced in 2015 and it was dedicated in 2017.
Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh served as the diocesan cathedral from 1924 to 2017. After the dedication of Holy Name of Jesus in 2017, Sacred Heart was relegated to a parish church. The
Basilica Shrine of St. Mary in Wilmington served as a cathedral for the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina until its suppression in 1924. The diocese sold the former
Pro-Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle in Wilmington. ==Bishops==