The Diocese Course: Two Dioceses Over One City

Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne erected 8 January 1857; renamed Fort Wayne–South Bend 1960; Episcopal Diocese of Michigan City created 1898, renamed Northern Indiana 1918, cathedral at South Bend 1957

The Catholic course: Mishawaka's Catholic parishes have belonged since 1857 to a diocese seated outside the city, and its course is this section's frame. By decree of Pope Pius IX on 8 January 1857, the northern half of Indiana was erected into the Diocese of Fort Wayne, taken from the Diocese of Vincennes, and John Henry Luers — who dedicated Mishawaka's St. Joseph church in December 1861, in the banked fragment's telling — was its first bishop. The diocese was divided twice in the twentieth century, giving up territory to the Diocese of Lafayette in 1944 and to the Diocese of Gary in 1957. In 1960, under Bishop Leo A. Pursley, the Diocese of Fort Wayne was renamed the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, and St. Matthew parish church in South Bend was designated the diocese's co-cathedral; the primary cathedral remains the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne. Bishop Pursley asked for the change to honor South Bend and its religious heritage, on Bishop Rhoades's own account of it. The present diocese — fourteen counties, St. Joseph County among them — is the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, and its bishop as of November 2026 is Kevin C. Rhoades, appointed 14 November 2009 and installed 13 January 2010, the ninth bishop of the see. Every Catholic article in the banked fragment sits inside this course: Dwenger's invitation to the Franciscan sisters, Noll's welcome of the motherhouse, Pursley's foundations at Queen of Peace and Marian, and Rhoades's 2014 entrusting of Marian's patroness are its bishops acting in this city.

The Episcopal course, completed in line: The banked fragment carries St. Paul's pro-cathedral years, 1925–1950; the diocese around them stands here whole. In 1898 the General Convention allowed the Diocese of Indiana to be divided, and the Diocese of Michigan City was created for the northern third of the state, with its cathedral at Trinity Church, Michigan City, and John Hazen White as its first bishop from 25 April 1899. White ended Trinity's cathedral status — the diocesan archives date the renaming that followed to 1918, when the diocese became the Diocese of Northern Indiana; a diocesan parish history dates Trinity's loss of the cathedral to 4 November 1917, and both dates stand as their records give them. After a stated interval of many years with a pro-cathedral at St. Paul's Church, Mishawaka — the years the banked fragment tells — Bishop Reginald Mallett made the Church of St. James in South Bend the cathedral: the parish accepted in 1956, and Mallett was enthroned at St. James Cathedral on 20 January 1957. The diocese's eighth and present bishop as of November 2026 is Douglas Everett Sparks, elected 6 February 2016 and consecrated 25 June 2016. No cathedral of either diocese has ever stood in Mishawaka; St. Paul's twenty-five years as pro-cathedral, in the banked fragment, is the nearest the city came, and it is printed at exactly that strength.

Sources:

1. Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, 2020 Directory, "General History of the Diocese" — the erection by decree of Pius IX, 8 January 1857; the 1957 division; the 1960 renaming and St. Matthew's designation as co-cathedral; Bishop Rhoades's installation 13 January 2010.
2. Today's Catholic, the diocese's newspaper, on the 1960 decree — Bishop Pursley's request and St. Matthew's promotion to co-cathedral.
3. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana, Diocesan Archives, "Our History" (ednin.org) — the 1898 creation of the Diocese of Michigan City, Trinity's cathedral, the 1918 renaming, the pro-cathedral years at St. Paul's Mishawaka, St. James made cathedral 1957, Bishop Sparks from 2016.
4. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives, Cathedral of St. James parish record — Trinity designated cathedral 25 April 1899, ceasing 4 November 1917; Mallett enthroned 20 January 1957; Bishop Sparks consecrated 25 June 2016.