Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange

1776 to 1848

The Catholic presence in present-day Orange County dates to the 1776 founding of Mission San Juan Capistrano by Junipero Serra and the Franciscan order. At the time, the region was part of the Las Californias province of New Spain.^[4]

In 1804, the Spanish split the Province of California into two territories:

• Alta California (Upper California), including the modern American states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, along with western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming
• Baja California Territory (Lower California), including the modern Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur

After the end of the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, Mexico took control of Alta California.^[5] The Mexican Government in 1835 secularized all of the missions in coastal California, including San Juan Capistrano.^[6]

In 1840, Pope Gregory XVI set up the Diocese of California. California.^[7] The new diocese included both Alta California and Baja California. Gregory XVI set the episcopal see at present-day San Diego in Alta California. The first bishop of the new diocese was Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno. ^[8]Moreno designated the Mission Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara as his pro-cathedral.

1848 to 1976

After ceding Alta California to the United States at the close of the Mexican–American War in 1848, the government of Mexico objected to San Diego, a see city now located in the United States, having jurisdiction over Mexican parishes. In response, the Vatican divided the Diocese of California into American and Mexican sections in 1849. The American section became the Diocese of Monterey; the see city was moved to Monterey because of its more central location. The Royal Presidio Chapel in Monterey became the cathedral of the new American diocese.^[9]

Pope Pius IX split the Diocese of Monterey in 1853, erecting the Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco. He designated the Diocese of Monterey as a suffragan diocese of the new archdiocese.^[7]

In 1859, Pius IX changed the name of the diocese to the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles due to the growth of Los Angeles.^[7] St. Boniface, the oldest continually operating Catholic church in Orange County, was dedicated in Anaheim in 1872.^[10] St. Mary's, the first Catholic church in Fullerton, was dedicated in 1912.^[11] The first parish in the City of Orange, Holy Family, was established in 1921.^[12]

In 1922, Pope Pius XI suppressed the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, erecting in its place the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego and the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno.^[13] The Orange County area would remain part of the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego, succeeded by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for the next 54 years.

1976 to present

On March 24, 1976, Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of Orange. Auxiliary Bishop William Johnson of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was appointed the first bishop.^[14] Johnson designated Holy Family Church in Orange as cathedral of the new diocese. Johnson died in 1986; Bishop Norman Francis McFarland of the Diocese of Reno succeeded him the same year.^[15] McFarland retired in 1998. Bishop Tod David Brown from the Diocese of Boise was his successor.^[16]

The diocese grew rapidly as the local population swelled with Catholic immigrants from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Latin America. In 2010, the diocese claimed a Catholic population of over 1.2 million.

In November 2011, the diocese purchased the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, in bankruptcy court from Robert Schuller Ministries. In a Los Angeles Times article, Brown mentioned that over the years, visiting Catholic clerics from other countries always wanted to visit the cathedral. The article also mentioned that the population of the diocese had doubled during Brown's tenure, increasing the need for more facilities. The facility, renamed Christ Cathedral, was consecrated as the seat of the diocese in 2019.^[17]

At the mandatory retirement age, Brown retired on September 21, 2012. The Holy See named Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Fort Worth to succeed him.^[18][19] The new Christ Cathedral, was consecrated as the seat of the diocese in 2019. In November 2020, Vann sued the former administrator of the Orange Catholic Foundation. Vann claimed that the administrator had defamed him by suggesting Vann wanted to obtain funds from the Foundation for COVID-19 pandemic relief, but actually use them for sex abuse claims against the diocese.^[20]

Sexual abuse

In 2005, Bishop Brown apologized to 87 victims of sexual abuse by diocesan clergy and announced a settlement of $100 million, following two years of mediation. In addition, 91 victims received an average of $659,000 each. The perpetrators included 31 priests, ten lay people, two nuns, and one religious brother.^[21]

Bishops of Orange

1. William Robert Johnson (1976-1986)
2. Norman McFarland (1986-1998)
3. Tod David Brown (1998-2012)
4. Kevin Vann (2012–present)

Auxiliary bishops

• John Thomas Steinbock (1984-1987), appointed Bishop of Santa Rosa in California and later Bishop of Fresno
• Michael Patrick Driscoll (1989-1999), appointed Bishop of Boise
• Jaime Soto (2000-2007), appointed Bishop of Sacramento
• Dominic Mai Luong (2003-2015)
• Cirilo Flores (2009-2012), appointed Coadjutor Bishop and later Bishop of San Diego
• Timothy Edward Freyer (2017–present)
• Thanh Thai Nguyen (2017–present)

High schools