Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo

The Diocese of Amarillo consists of the following 26 counties:

Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, and Wheeler.^[2]

The Texas Panhandle was under several different Catholic jurisdictions before the creation of the Diocese of Amarillo:

• Prefecture Apostolic of Texas (1841 to 1847)
• Vicariate Apostolic of Texas (1847 to 1874)
• Diocese of Galveston (1874 to 1914)
• Dioceses of Dallas and San Antonio (1914 to 1926)

The first Catholic priests in the region came from Kansas and New Mexico during the 1870s, serving the small Catholic population in periodic visits. The first Catholic church in the Texas Panhandle was St. Mary's, dedicated in Clarendon in 1892, to serve Irish and German railroad workers.^[3] In 1903, construction started on St. Mary's, the first Catholic church in Amarillo.^[4]

Pope Pius XI founded the Diocese of Amarillo on August 3, 1926, taking its territory from the Dioceses of Dallas and San Antonio.^[5][6] The new diocese contained large areas of northern Texas. The pope named Reverend Rudolph Gerken of Dallas as the first bishop of Amarillo.^[7] During his tenure in Amarillo, Gerken oversaw the construction of thirty-five churches. He also founded Price Memorial College in Amarillo and served as its first president.^[8] In 1933, Gerken became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.^[9]

The second bishop of Amarillo was Reverend Robert Lucey of the Diocese of Los Angeles, named by Pius XI in 1934.^[10] He established the Texas Panhandle Register as the diocesan newspaper. Lucey was elevated to archbishop of San Antonio in 1941. That same year, Pope Pius XII appointed Monsignor Laurence FitzSimon of San Antonio as the next bishop of Amarillo.^[11][12]

During Fitzsimon's 17-year-long tenure as bishop, the number of churches, priests, schools, and institutions in the diocese more than doubled.^[13] In September 1945, after the end of World War II, FitzSimon wrote a letter to US Congressman Francis E. Worley protesting the conditions at the Italian prisoner of war camp in Hereford, Texas. FitzSimon had visited the camp in July 1945 and saw that prisoners were receiving low rations of substandard quality. They also told him stories of beatings and other mistreatment by guards.^[14] Fitzsimon died in 1958.

Auxiliary Bishop John Morkovsky was the next bishop of Amarillo, named by Pius XII in 1958. The Vatican in 1961 erected the Diocese of San Angelo, taking 21 counties from the Diocese of Amarillo.^[3] Morkovsky became coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1963.^[15] Pope John XXIII in 1963 named Monsignor Lawrence De Falco of the Diocese of Fort Worth as the fifth bishop of Amarillo.^[16]

During his 16-year-long tenure, De Falco worked to implement the Second Vatican Council reforms, establishing pastoral councils and senates of priests, of nuns, and of deacons.^[17] He also reduced diocesan debt, but was forced to close several schools and hospitals.^[17] St. Laurence Church in Amarillo replaced Sacred Heart as the diocesan cathedral in 1975.^[18] De Falco retired due to poor health in 1979.

In 1980, Pope John Paul II appointed Reverend Leroy Matthiesen of Amarillo as bishop of that diocese.^[19] In 1981, in protest of the assembly of the neutron bomb at a facility in Pantex, Matthiesen called for workers there to resign their jobs in protest. None were reported to have obeyed his call.^[20]

The Vatican in 1983 erected the Diocese of Lubbock, taking 23 counties from the southern part of the Diocese of Amarillo.^[21] Matthiesen retired in 1997. The next bishop of Amarillo was Auxiliary Bishop John Yanta of San Antonio, appointed by John Paul II in 1997. Yanta retired in 2008.^[22]

As of 2023, the bishop of Amarillo is Patrick Zurek from San Antonio, named by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.^[23]

During his tenure as bishop, Bishop Matthiesen admitted eight priests into the Diocese of Amarillo after they had undergone treatment following accusations of sexual impropriety.^[24] The most controversial individuals were John Salazar and Ed Graff.^[25]

• Salazar in 1987 went to prison in California for abusing two teenage boys in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. When Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles heard that Matthiesen had accepted Salazar, he sent a letter of warning to the Vatican.^[26] Matthiesen disregarded Mahoney's appeal
• Graff was dismissed from the Diocese of Allentown due to multiple accusations of sexual abuse. After Matthiesen accepted Graff into the Diocese of Amarillo, Bishop Thomas Welsh expressed his concern that Matthiesen never consulted him on the wisdom of the Graff transfer.^[25]

In July 2002, Bishop Yanta and the diocese were named in a lawsuit for the rape of a teenage girl in 2000 by Reverend Rosendo Herrera. When the plaintiff was age 17, Herrera raped and impregnated her. The accuser said that the diocese was aware of previous offenses by Herrera, but had failed to notify authorities as required by Texas state law.^[27]

By September 2002, eight priests had resigned from the diocese due to sexual abuse allegations.^[28] In 2003, the diocese settled the lawsuit for the woman impregnated by Herrera, providing approximately $27,000 for the child.^[29] In November 2004, the diocese settled a second lawsuit for $50,000. The female plaintiff had claimed that Herrera engaged in wrongful contact with her.^[30]

In 2004, Matthiessen stirred controversy when he started a private fundraising effort for three priests whom he had removed from public ministry.^[31]

In January 2019, the diocese released a list of 30 clergy with credible allegations of sexual abuse.^[32]

1. Rudolph Gerken (1926–1933), appointed Archbishop of Santa Fe
2. Robert Emmet Lucey (1934–1941), appointed Archbishop of San Antonio
3. Laurence Julius FitzSimon (1941–1958)
4. John Louis Morkovsky (1958–1963), appointed Bishop of Galveston-Houston
5. Lawrence Michael De Falco (1963–1979)
6. Leroy Theodore Matthiesen (1980–1997)
7. John Walter Yanta (1997–2008)
8. Patrick Zurek (2008–present)

Thomas Joseph Drury, appointed Bishop of San Angelo in 1961 and later Bishop of Corpus Christi

The Diocese of Amarillo has one high school, Holy Cross Catholic Academy in Amarillo, along with four elementary schools and one pre-school.^[33]

• Sacred Heart Cathedral, Amarillo 1927–1975
• St. Laurence Catholic Church, Amarillo 1975–2011

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo Official Site

35°11′57″N 101°50′43″W / 35.19917°N 101.84528°W / 35.19917; -101.84528