The Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend

Erected 8 January 1857 as the Diocese of Fort Wayne — renamed the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend in 1960

Erection: On 8 January 1857, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Fort Wayne from territory of the Diocese of Vincennes, which had covered the whole of Indiana since 1834. The new diocese took the northern half of the state. It was at first a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. John Henry Luers, a priest of the Cincinnati diocese, was named its first bishop and was consecrated on 10 January 1858.

Losses of territory: In 1944 the diocese lost its southern counties to the newly erected Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, and in that same year it passed from the province of Cincinnati to the newly elevated Archdiocese of Indianapolis, to which it has belonged since. In December 1956 Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Gary from its northwestern counties — Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke. Some diocesan anniversary accounts date the Gary separation to 1957, the diocese’s centennial year; the erection itself was in December 1956.

The South Bend name: In 1960, on the petition of Bishop Leo A. Pursley, who cited the growth of South Bend, Pope John XXIII changed the name of the see to the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend. St. Matthew’s Church in South Bend, then newly built, was raised to a co-cathedral alongside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne. A six-winged angel for St. Matthew the Evangelist was added to the lower half of the diocesan crest to mark the change.

The diocese today: The diocese covers 14 counties in north-central and northeastern Indiana: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Elkhart, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Marshall, Noble, Steuben, St. Joseph, Wabash, Wells and Whitley. Fort Wayne holds the primary cathedral and the chancery; South Bend holds the co-cathedral, and the diocese’s auxiliary bishops resident in South Bend were traditionally seated at St. Matthew’s.

Bishops of the see: John Henry Luers, 1857–71. Joseph Dwenger, 1872–93. Joseph Rademacher, 1893–1900. Herman Joseph Alerding, 1900–24. John Francis Noll, 1925–56. Leo Aloysius Pursley, 1956–76. William Edward McManus, 1976–85. John Michael D’Arcy, 1985–2009. Kevin Carl Rhoades, 2009–present — appointed 14 November 2009 and installed 13 January 2010.

Auxiliaries at South Bend: Three auxiliary bishops served in succession as pastor and rector of St. Matthew Cathedral: Joseph R. Crowley, named auxiliary on 24 August 1971; John R. Sheets, ordained a bishop at St. Matthew on 25 June 1991; and Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., who succeeded Sheets in October 1997 and left in 2002 to become Bishop of Peoria, Illinois.

Sources:

1. Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, diocesan history and bishop lists as summarized in the diocese’s reference entry — erection date, suffragan history, territory losses of 1944 and 1956, the 1960 renaming and the 14 counties.
2. Indiana Catholic History, “Diocese of Fort Wayne Established — January 8, 1857” — the 1857 boundaries, the Lafayette separation of 1944 and the 28 May 1960 name change.
3. Today’s Catholic, “From Humble Wooden Church to Cathedral — St. Matthew Celebrates 100 Years,” 16 August 2022 — Bishop Pursley’s petition to the Vatican and the addition of St. Matthew to the diocesan crest.
4. St. Matthew Cathedral parish history, stmatthewcathedral.org — the auxiliary bishops Crowley, Sheets and Jenky and Bishop Rhoades’s appointment and installation dates.