The Diocese of Columbus () is a diocese of the Catholic Church covering 23 counties in central Ohio in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The mother church is St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus. The diocese was erected in 1868. The bishop is Earl K. Fernandes as of 2026.
Geography The Diocese of Columbus contains 108 parishes in 23 counties:
Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Knox, Licking, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Tuscarawas, Union, and Vinton.
History
1700 to 1860 During the 17th century, present-day Ohio was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec had jurisdiction over the region. However, unlike other parts of the future American Midwest, there were no attempts to found Catholic missions in Ohio.
In 1763, Ohio Country became part of the British Province of Quebec, forbidden from settlement by American colonists. After the American Revolution ended in 1783, Pope Pius VI erected the Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, encompassing the entire territory of the new nation, in 1784. Three years later, the Ohio area became part of the Northwest Territory of the United States. Pius VI created the Diocese of Baltimore, the first diocese in the United States, to replace the Prefecture Apostolic in 1789.
In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky, with jurisdiction over the new state of Ohio along with the other midwest states. Dominican priests from Bardstown were the first missionaries and clergy in the Columbus area. The first Catholic chapel built in Ohio was a log structure in Perry County; it was dedicated in 1818 by Edward Fenwick.
Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Cincinnati in 1821, taking all of Ohio from Bardstown. The 1836 visit of Cincinnati Bishop John Purcell to central Ohio began the activity of the Catholic Church in Columbus. After celebrating mass in a house on Canal Street, Purcell asked the male congregants to build their own church. They developed a plan to build on a lot already owned by local Catholics. In 1837, the diocese sent a resident pastor, Henry Juncker, to minister to Catholics in the Columbus and Chillicothe areas. Juncker built Holy Cross Church, opening it in 1838. By 1843, Holy Cross Parish was scheduling multiple masses on Sundays and building a school.
In 1849, St. Francis Hospital opened in Columbus, staffed by Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis. For the first time in American history, a medical school, the Starling Medical College, was located within a hospital. The college became the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
1860 to 1900
At the close of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866, the American bishops petitioned Pope Pius IX to establish a new diocese with its seat in Columbus. On March 3, 1868, Pius IX erected the Diocese of Columbus, encompassing the portions of Ohio "...lying south of 40' and 41" and between the Ohio River on the East and the Scioto River on the West together with the Counties of Franklin, Delaware and Morrow." The pope named Auxiliary Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans of Cincinnati as the first bishop of Columbus.
When the Diocese of Columbus was erected, it had only three churches, all in the city of Columbus: Holy Cross, St. Patrick's, and St. Mary's. The diocese was mostly agricultural, having been settled first by Maryland and Pennsylvania residents who had moved west, and then by German and Irish immigrants. Rosecrans established the Catholic Columbian, a newspaper for the diocese, in addition to opening St. Aloysius Seminary. Rosecrans opened the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum in Columbus in 1875.
In the early 1870s John Joseph Jessing, a German priest, had opened an orphanage for German boys in Pomeroy. He relcated it to Columbus in 1877, where he also opened a trade school for the boys. Rosecrans consecrated St. Joseph Cathedral in 1878; he died the day after the ceremony.
Pope Leo XIII selected John Watterson of Columbus to be the second bishop of that diocese; he took office in 1880. The major challenge facing the diocese was the debt it accrued building St. Joseph's Cathedral. In 1886, Mount Carmel Hospital opened in Columbus, staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Cross from Notre Dame, Indiana.
Jessing opened the Collegium Josephinum, a seminary for the German orphans who wanted to enter the priesthood, in 1888. Four years later, the Vatican granted pontifical statues to Jessing's seminary. Today it is known as the Pontifical College Josephinum. Watterson died in 1899. During his 19-year tenure, Watterson saw an increase in the number of priests and schools in the diocese and erected many new missions and parishes.
1900 to 1945
In 1900, Henry K. Moeller of Cincinnati was appointed the third bishop of Columbus by Leo XIII. During his episcopacy, the diocesan debt was split among the parishes and nearly eliminated in three years and a diocesan synod was convened. Moeller also established missions, parishes, and schools to serve the increasing immigrant population of the Diocese. Moeller was appointed as the coadjutor bishop of Cincinnati by Pope Pius X in 1903.
Moeller's replacement, James Hartle of Columbus, was named bishop of Columbus by Pius X in 1903. Hartley oversaw a significant growth of the diocese. In 1905, he erected his first parishes, Holy Rosary and St. Aloysius. The following year, he retired the debt on St. Joseph Cathedral. Within the first five years of his episcopate, Hartley began or dedicated over 25 churches, schools, and chapels. During his tenure, the following institutions were established :
St. Ann Hospital in Westerville (1908) by the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Charity.Today it is Mount Carmel St. Ann's. St. Joseph Cemetery in Lockbourne (1910) by Hartley Good Samaritan Hospital in Zanesville by the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity (1915).It later became part of Genesis Hospital. The Dominican Sisters of Peace in 1911 opened College of St. Mary of the Springs in Columbus, a college for Women. Today it is Ohio Dominican University. In 1919, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth founded Mercy Hospital in Mount Vernon.The Sisters of St. Francis established Mercy Hospital in Portsmouth in 1921. It later became part of Southern Ohio Medical Center.
Hartley founded St. Charles Seminary, a minor seminary in Columbus, in 1923. Today it is St. Charles Preparatory School. The Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity opened the St. Therese Shrine in Columbus in 1931. Toward the end of his term as bishop, Hartley in 1941 consecrated Edward Hettinger of Columbus as the first auxiliary bishop of the diocese. Hartley died in 1944.
1945 to 1968
Michael Ready from the Diocese of Cleveland was appointed bishop of Columbus by Pope Pius XII in 1945. That same year, the Vatican established the Diocese of Steubenville, removing 13 counties from the Diocese of Columbus to form the new diocese. At the same time, the Vatican added nine counties to the Diocese of Columbus from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
One of Ready's first tasks was overseeing the erection of Steubenville. He established the Catholic Welfare Bureau for the Diocese of Columbus in 1945 and appointed a director of charities for the diocese. Today it is called Catholic Social Services. In 1949, Ready razed the original bishop's house, replacing it with a combination bishop's residence and diocesan chancery building. Ready was a critic of the Ohio State University board of trustees' decision in 1951 that required all campus speakers be cleared by University President Howard L. Bevis in advance.
Ready also organized the Holy Name Society, a parent-teacher organization, the Council of Catholic Women, the Catholic Youth Council, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the diocese. Ready founded two nursing homes, the diocesan Child Guidance Center in Columbus, and the Catholic Student Center at Ohio State University. He worked with his fellow Ohio bishops to start the Ohio Catholic Welfare Conference. Ready died in 1957. Ready created 18 new parishes and built nine elementary schools and five high schools.
Pope Pius XII appointed Auxiliary Bishop Clarence Issenmann of Cincinnati as the sixth bishop of Columbus in 1957. As bishop, Issenmann established the Diocesan Development Fund to aid the expansion of the diocese. He added eight parishes and six high schools during his term. Issenmann also founded a new building to house diocesan offices, and offered a televised mass every week. Pope Paul VI named Issenmann as coadjutor bishop of Cleveland in 1964.
Bishop John Carberry from the Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana was appointed the seventh bishop of Columbus by Paul VI in 1965. As bishop, he implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s. Carberry also supported the American Civil Rights Movement and the ecumenical movement. He established the Clergy Advisory Council and oversaw the renovation of St. Joseph's Cathedral after issuing regulations for liturgical changes. Carberry also bought a new building to centralize the offices of the diocesan chancery. He helped found the Inter-Church Board for Metropolitan Affairs, the first organization in the United States uniting Protestants and Catholics for ecumenism and social action. In 1968, Carberry became the first Catholic bishop to receive the Ohio Council of Churches' annual "Pastor of Pastors" award. Carberry was named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1968.
1968 to 1982 Paul VI named Auxiliary Bishop Clarence Elwell from Cleveland as the eighth bishop of Columbus in 1968. During his tenure as bishop, Elwell continued the implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, initiated under Carberry. An advocate of Catholic education, he opened Tuscarawas Central Catholic High School in New Philadelphia in 1970 and William V. Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster the next year
In 1972, Elwell established Resurrection Cemetery in Lewis Center and St. Peter Parish in Worthington. He created a sisters' council and pastoral council for the diocese, expanded the Development Office, and established the Parish Aid Fund, and the diocesan self-insurance program. Elwell died in 1973.
Auxiliary Bishop Edward Herrmann from the Archdiocese of Washington was appointed bishop of Columbus in 1973 by Paul VI. Herrmann helped establish Operation Feed in Columbus, a countywide food drive that now provides millions of meals every year to people in the Columbus area. He also reorganized the diocese into the 15 vicariates and instituted the Emmaus Spirituality Program for priests. Hermann died in 1982.
1982 to 2020
In 1983, Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop James Griffin from Cleveland as the tenth bishop of Columbus. In 1985, Griffin established the Foundation of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus and initiated the Legacy of Catholic Learning campaign and Challenge In Changing Times campaign. He also established the "Breaking The Silence" task force to reduce family violence. Griffin also served on a number of committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and was president of Catholic Relief Services (1991–1995). In 2004, after 21 years as bishop of Columbus, Griffin retired.