Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau

The Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, in southern Alaska in the United States. The archdiocese has a single suffragan diocese, the Diocese of Fairbanks.

The mother church cathedral of the archdiocese is Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral in Anchorage.  The co-cathedral is the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau. As of 2023, the archbishop is Andrew E. Bellisario.

The Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau was erected in 2020 when Pope Francis merged the Archdiocese of Anchorage with the Diocese of Juneau.

History

1879 to 1951
Reverend John Althoff from the Canadian Diocese of Vancouver Island established the first permanent Catholic presence in Alaska, then a U.S. territory. His superior, Bishop Charles J. Seghers, sent Althoff to Wrangell, Alaska, to serve that town,  the Cassiar mining district on the Stikine River, and the former Russian capital of Sitka.

Althoff founded Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Wrangell, Alaska, in 1879.  On visits to Sitka, he would celebrate mass in an old Russian carriage barn.  After the discovery of gold near Juneau, Althoff moved his mission there.  He celebrated the first mass and baptism in an interdenominational "Log Cabin Church" in 1882.

The Alaska missions continued to expand as more missionaries arrived in the region.  In 1894, Pope Leo XIII erected the Prefecture Apostolic of Alaska in Juneau, taking all of  Alaska from the Canadian Dioceses of Vancouver Island and New Westminster.

In 1916, Pope Benedict XV elevated the prefecture apostolic to a vicariate apostolic. He appointed Joseph Crimont, the prefect apostolic of Alaska, as its vicar apostolic in 1917.

1951 to 1975

Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Juneau on June 23, 1951.  The new diocese was carved out of the former Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska. The Anchorage area would remain part of the Diocese of Juneau and the remainder of the vicariate for the next 15 years.

During the second half of the 20th century, Alaska's population and business growth centered around Anchorage, even though Juneau remained the state's capital. In 1966, Pope Paul VI erected the Archdiocese of Anchorage and appointed Reverend Joseph T. Ryan from the Diocese of Albany as the first archbishop of Anchorage. 

The new archdiocese took the territory "lying west of Mount Saint Elias and Icy Bay" from the Diocese of Juneau, along with the rest of the vicariate apostolic.  The pope designated the Church of the Holy Family in Anchorage as its cathedral church. The Dioceses of Fairbanks and Juneau were now the suffragan sees of the new Archdiocese of Anchorage.

1975 to 2020 
After Ryan was named coadjutor archbishop for the Military Vicariate in 1975, Pope Paul VI appointed Bishop Francis Hurley of Juneau as the second archbishop of Anchorage.In 1981, during a brief airport layover in Anchorage, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass on the Anchorage Park Strip before 50,000 people. Hurley resigned in 2001.

To replace Hurley, John Paul II in 1991 appointed Bishop Roger Schwietz of the Diocese of Duluth as the next archbishop of Anchorage. As the archdiocese continued to grow, the Cathedral of the Holy Family became too small to host major diocesan services.   Schwietz petitioned the Holy See in 2013 to designate Our Lady of Guadalupe Church as a co-cathedral, keeping Holy Family as the historic cathedral.  The Vatican granted its approval in 2014. Schwietz retired in 2015.

Pope Francis in 2016 appointed Bishop Paul D. Etienne of the Diocese of Cheyenne as the next archbishop of Anchorage.He was named coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Seattle in 2019.

2020 to present
On May 19, 2020, Pope Francis announced the merger of the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Diocese of Juneau into the Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau,The pope named Bishop Andrew E. Bellisario of Juneau at the same time as the first archbishop of Anchorage-Juneau.  The Diocese of Fairbanks became the only suffragan diocese of the new archdiocese.

The pope also designated the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Anchorage as the primary cathedral and the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary as the co-cathedral.The Church of the Holy Family in Anchorage lost its role as a cathedral when the merger took effect, but it continues to serve as a parish church.

As of 2023, Bellisario is the current archbishop of Anchorage-Juneau.

Sex abuse 
The archdiocese was part of a sexual abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Boston and other defendants in 2006. Five men in Alaska and Massachusetts had accused Reverend Frank Murphy of sexual abuse.  Murphy left Anchorage for Boston in 1985, where he worked as a chaplain, after local police started investigating complaints against him. Bishop Hurley told parishioners that Murphy was being treated for alcohol abuse.  Murphy was finally forced out of the priesthood in 1995.

In October 2018, Bishop Etienne said that he would establish an independent commission to examine the personnel files of the archdiocese over the past 50 years for any new credible accusations of sexual abuse by priests against minors. In January 2020, the commission released the names of 14 clergy and diocesan employees with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.

Coat of arms of Archdiocese of Anchorage- Juneau 

The coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Anchorage- Juneau contains the following elements:

 A horizontal white line – represents the horizon separating earth and sky
 Five blue and white wavy lines – represent the water under the sky
 The Great Bear Constellation – represents the Alaska State Flag and the State of Alaska.
 The Polaris star –  recalls its role as a navigation aid to travelers and represents Mary, mother of Jesus as “Star of the Sea.”
 The crescent moon –  represents the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary feast day and the Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau.
 The triple-pronged anchor – represents the virtue of hope, the Holy Trinity, and the City of Anchorage

Bishops

Bishops of Juneau 
 Robert Dermot O'Flanagan (1951-1968)
 Francis Thomas Hurley (1971-1976), appointed archbishop of Anchorage
 Michael Hughes Kenny (1979-1995)
 Michael William Warfel (1996-2007), appointed bishop of Great Falls-Billings
 Edward James Burns (2009-2017), appointed bishop of Dallas
 Andrew Eugene Bellisario (2017–2020), appointed archbishop of Anchorage–Juneau

Archbishops of Anchorage 
 John Joseph Thomas Ryan (1966–1975), appointed coadjutor archbishop for the Military Services and subsequently succeeded to that see.
 Francis Thomas Hurley (1976–2001)
 Roger Lawrence Schwietz (2001–2016)
 Paul Dennis Etienne (2016–2019), appointed coadjutor archbishop of Seattle and subsequently succeeded to that see.

Archbishops of Anchorage–Juneau 
Andrew E. Bellisario (2020–present)

Archdiocesan priest who became bishop of another diocese
Michael William Warfel, appointed Bishop of Juneau in 1996

High school

Lumen Christi Junior/Senior High School, Anchorage

Publications
Before the merger, the Archdiocese of Anchorage published a monthly newspaper, Catholic Anchor, with approximately 11,000 subscribers. It was established in April 1999. The Diocese of Juneau published its newspaper, The Inside Passage, on its web site. Both publications were replaced after the merge with a new monthly publication, the North Star Catholic.

Suffragan see
The ecclesiastical province of Anchorage–Juneau encompasses the state of Alaska.  The sole suffragan diocese is the Diocese of Fairbanks. Before the merger, the Diocese of Juneau and the Diocese of Fairbanks were suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of Anchorage.

See also
 Ecclesiastical Province of Anchorage
 List of Roman Catholic archdioceses (by country and continent)
 List of Roman Catholic dioceses (alphabetical) (including archdioceses)
 List of Roman Catholic dioceses (structured view) (including archdioceses)
 List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States

References

External links
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau Official Site
Catholic Social Services Alaska

 
Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States
 
Christian organizations established in 1966
Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century
1966 establishments in Alaska