The Diocese of Rockville Centre () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the Long Island region of New York State in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of New York.
The current bishop is John Barres. The cathedral is St. Agnes Cathedral, in Rockville Centre, New York. Founded in 1957, this diocese was created from territory that once belonged to the Diocese of Brooklyn. It includes all of Nassau and Suffolk counties except for Fishers Island, which is part of the Diocese of Norwich. , it the sixth-largest Catholic diocese in the United States, currently serving approximately 1.5 million people in 134 parishes.
History
Early history
During the Dutch and British rule of the Province of New York in the 17th and 18th centuries, Catholics were banned from the colony. Richard Coote, the first colonial governor, passed a law at the end of the 17th century that mandated a life sentence to any Catholic priest. The penalty for harboring a Catholic was a £250 fine plus three days in the pillory. In 1763, Catholic Bishop Richard Challoner of London stated that:“...in New York, one may find a Catholic here and there, but they have no opportunity of practicing their religion as no priest visits them, and … there is not much likelihood that Catholic priests will be permitted to enter these provinces."After the approval of the New York Constitution in 1777, freedom of worship for Catholics was guaranteed. This was soon followed by the same guarantee in the US Constitution.
1784 to 1957
In 1784, Pope Pius VI erected the Apostolic Prefecture of United States of America, including all of the new United States. In 1789, the same pope raised this prefecture to the Diocese of Baltimore. Pope Pius VII in 1808 erected the Diocese of New York, taking all of New York State from the Diocese of Baltimore.
Catholic priests started appearing in Long Island in the mid-19th century, founding missions and parishes. The first Catholic Church in Nassau County was St. Brigid in Westbury, founded in 1840. The first resident priest in Suffolk County arrived in Sag Harbor in 1852 to provide support to Irish Catholic families working on the railroads.
The Diocese of Brooklyn was erected by Pope Pius IX in 1853 with territory from the Archdiocese of New York. All of Long Island would remain part of the new diocese for the next 104 years.
1957 to 2000
Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Rockville Centre on April 6, 1957, taking Nassau and Suffolk counties from the Diocese of Brooklyn. The pope named Bishop Walter P. Kellenberg of the Diocese of Ogdensburg as the first bishop of the new diocese. St. Agnes Cathedral was designated as the diocesan cathedral. Kellenberg founded the diocese's Catholic Charities office in 1957. He resigned in 1976.
Kellenberg was followed by Auxiliary Bishop John McGann, named by Pope Paul VI in 1976. In 1984, the diocese closed its minor seminary, St. Pius X Preparatory, in Uniondale. Pope John Paul II in 1999 appointed Bishop James T. McHugh from the Diocese of Camden as a coadjutor bishop in Rockville Centre to assist McGann.
2000 to 2010
After McGann retired in January 2000, McHugh automatically succeeded him as bishop. However, only 11 months later, McHugh died in December 2000. John Paul II then appointed Auxiliary Bishop William Murphy of the Archdiocese of Boston as the next bishop of Rockville Centre.
Soon after Murphy's installation as bishop in 2001, he decided that his private quarters in the cathedral rectory were inadequate. He complained that they lacked privacy and sufficient space to entertain visiting clergy. Murphy decided to use the top floor of an old convent building at the cathedral for a new apartment. The diocese had been planning to create rooms for nuns on that floor, but Murphy asked them to accept different accommodations. The Murphy apartment ended up costing the diocese $800,000. As news of the project cost became public, Murphy invited a Newsday reporter and photographer to tour the apartment. They reported that it included a large suite with a new fireplace with an oak mantel, a temperature-controlled wine storage cabinet, and a marble floored bathroom.
In 2003, 52 priests requested a meeting with Murphy. In a letter, the priests spoke of anger and dissatisfaction within the diocese and "a certain lack of confidence in your pastoral leadership." They also complained about Murphy's management style, the cost of his new apartment, the sexual abuse scandal in Boston and his ban against Long Island Voice of the Faithful.