Diocese of Gary

The Diocese of Gary includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke counties in Indiana. ==History==

1675 to 1800 During the 17th century, present day Indiana was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec, which had jurisdiction over the colony, sent French missionaries to the region. The first French Jesuit missionaries came to the Vincennes area around 1675. Historical records show that a Father Mermet arrived in Vincennes around 1712, but the length of his visit is unknown. The oldest Catholic Church in Vincennes is St. Francis Xavier, established around 1732. After the British took control of New France in 1763, the Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction in the Indiana area. In 1776, the new United States claimed sovereignty over the area of Indiana. In 1787, Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory of the United States. 1800 to 1956 With the creation of the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky in 1810, supervision of the Indiana Territory shifted there. In 1827, the bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis assumed jurisdiction in the new state of Indiana. In 1834, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Vincennes, which included both Indiana and Illinois. Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Fort Wayne for Indiana only in 1857, including the Gary area. Gary would remain part of this diocese for the next 100 years. St. Mary the Immaculate Conception parish, founded in 1867, was the first Catholic parish in Michigan City. The first Catholic parish in Gary was Holy Angels, established in 1906. During the first half of the 20th century, many Catholic immigrants arrived in Indiana from Eastern Europe and Mexico to work in the region's growing steel industry. The Diocese of Fort Wayne founded several native language parishes near the steel mills to accommodate these immigrants. 1956 to 2000 In 1956, Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Gary, removing Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke Counties from the Diocese of Fort Wayne. He named Andrew Grutka of Fort Wayne as the first bishop of Gary. Grutka selected Holy Angels church as his cathedral, renaming it as the Cathedral of the Holy Angels. The new diocese had 129 active diocesan priests, 77 parishes, 60 parish schools and 135,485 Catholics, about 25 percent of the population of the four counties. Grutka retired in 1984. Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop Norbert Gaughan of the Diocese of Greensburg as the second bishop of Gary in 1984. During his tenure as bishop, Gaughan ordained three priests and started a diocesan newspaper, the Northwest Indiana Catholic. In 1986, he established the Catholic Services Appeal. Gaughan created the “We Can Change the Future” program for the creation of pastoral councils. After Gaughan suffered a stroke, the pope named Auxiliary Bishop Dale Melczek of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1995 as coadjutor bishop to assist Gaughan. When Gaughan retired in 1996, Melczek became bishop of Gary. 2000 to present In 2002, Melczek published “The Many Faces of Our Church: a Pastoral Letter on Cultural Diversity” to discuss the contributions of different races and cultural groups to the Catholic church. Melczek followed it up the next year with “Created in God’s Image: a Pastoral Letter on the Sin of Racism and a Call to Conversion.” After Melczek retired in 2013, Auxiliary Bishop Donald J. Hying of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee became the next bishop. In 2016, Hying called the first synod in Gary with the publication of his pastoral letter, “Go, Therefore, and Make Disciples of All Nations”. He began an initiative in 2017 to focus on evangelization, vocations, and other topics within the diocese. In 2019, Pope Francis named Hying bishop of the Diocese of Madison and appointed Robert McClory of the Archdiocese of Detroit to succeed Hying. McClory is the fifth and current bishop of the Diocese of Gary. Sex Abuse In December 2003, Bishop Melczek removed Don Grass from ministry after the priest admitted to sexually abusing a preteen girl. The victim reported the incident to the diocese in 2003, saying that the crime happened during the 1960s while Grass was assigned to Cathedral of the Holy Angels Parish. Grass was never returned to ministry. The diocese in August 2018 published a list of ten priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. ==Statistics==

As of 2023, the Diocese of Gary had 77 priests, 70 permanent deacons, 12 religious brothers, and 56 religious sisters. The diocese had a Catholic population of 170,144 in 59 parishes. In 2012, four parishes in the diocese offered mass in Polish, two parishes in Croatian, one in Hungarian, and one in Lithuanian. Fourteen parishes offered mass in Spanish. In 2023, the diocese had 17 elementary schools, three high schools, one college, and a Catholic student center at Valparaiso University. The diocese also supervised six hospitals or medical centers, three homes for the aged, three protective homes, three cemeteries, and Catholic Charities, Diocese of Gary. ==Bishops==

Bishops of Gary • Andrew Gregory Grutka (1956–1984) • Norbert Felix Gaughan (1984–1996) • Dale Joseph Melczek (1996–2014) • Donald J. Hying (2014–2019), appointed Bishop of Madison. • Robert John McClory ( 2019–present) Coadjutor bishop Dale Joseph Melczek (1995–1996) Other diocesan priest who became bishop Carl Frederick Mengeling, appointed Bishop of Lansing ==Education==

There are numerous elementary and secondary schools in the diocese. Secondary schools Operated by diocese • Andrean High School – Merrillville • Bishop Noll Institute – Hammond • Marquette Catholic High School – Michigan City Independent • La Lumiere School – La Porte • Sacred Heart Apostolic School – Rolling Prairie Colleges • Calumet College of St. Joseph – Whiting ==Extraordinary Form==

In 2018, Bishop Hying invited the Institute of Christ the King to begin an apostolate at St. Joseph Parish in Hammond, offering the Extraordinary Form on a weekly basis. In 2022, it was moved to Merrillville at the Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine. In 2015, the NWI Latin Mass Community was founded by laity to support and promote the Extraordinary Form in the diocese In 2018, a Solemn High Mass was offered at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry from the Archdiocese of Chicago. Previously, a Traditional Latin Mass was available at St. Stanislaus in Michigan City, but this mass was discontinued when the celebrant died. For 28 years the Carmelite Shrine in Munster offered regularly. It was established in 1990 at the recommendation of Bishop Gaughan. ==References==