History
 

The following historical material was prepared by Father Richard Walsh and originally published in Diocese of Joliet, Illinois: 50th Anniversary 1999:

From the Beginning:

History of the Diocese of Joliet

Exploration

     The story of our faith in relationship to this place now known as the Joliet Diocese reaches back to 1672, when the French missionary-explorers Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet (from the French spelled "Jolliet") began their journey through what is now Wisconsin to the Mississippi River.  They then traveled back up through the Illinois and DesPlaines rivers to Lake Michigan in their return to Quebec.

     Because we share a common name, we have a special interest in Louis Joliet who was born in 1645 at Quebec.  At 17 he entered the society of Jesus, but after three years decided to seek the life of a prosperous trader and "voyageur."   At age 27, together with Marquette and five other companions, he made this journey of discovery.  Joliet brought not only a fur trader's stamina and skill with Native American language, but also a missionary spirit.

     We know of Joliet's journey only through recollection.  Hurrying toward Montreal on his return in 1673, Joliet's canoe capsized and the story is told that all his journals and maps were lost.  We can be grateful that Father Marquette was, in the Jesuit missionary tradition, a great keeper of the journal.

     Joliet gave his name to a mound along the DesPlaines River which would be quarried away even as the city of Joliet grew.
 

Evangelization

     Father Marquette and Joliet brought with them a strong desire to share the Gospel, and a great respect for the people they encountered.  In a time when missionary efforts were often associated with the abuses of colonialism, the first stories of evangelization in the Diocese of Joliet offer another perspective.

     While many different Native American Cultures were encountered in this area, the tribe known as the Illinois was the dominant group.  The explorers found the Illinois to be handsome, lively, intelligent; Father Marquette compared their dances with the beauty of the ballet in Paris.  Most important, Father Marquette and Joliet found the Illinois to be open to the one gift of real value that they had to offer - the proclamation of the Gospel.

     In 1673, this place, long the home of many Native American cultures, was claimed for France.  Cartographers showed this area to be among the farthest outposts of the Diocese of Quebec.

     Joliet and Father Marquette were followed by Jesuit Father Hennepin and other priests of the Society of Jesus who developed missions in this area, as well as missionaries from other religious communities and soldiers.  Among those of note were French explorer LaSalle and his lieutenant, Henri de Tonti.  Then trappers and settlers came in great numbers, as forts were established by the military.

     While there were no resident pastors, the faith was celebrated in chapels and homes.  Visiting missionaries nourished the sacramental life of the people.  The Illinois became allies of the French, and many embraced the Catholic faith.  The Illinois were a peace-loving people, and no match for the aggressive Iroquois.  In spite of heavy losses during the French and Indian war, the Illinois remained faithful to their French allies.

     In 1717, as fur trade diminished in this region and French growth in the New World caused a redefinition of spheres of influence, this region came under the jurisdiction of New Orleans. This situation would continue until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when this area came under English control.

     Native American migration again brought great change to this region in the Three Fires Confederacy of 1743.  Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa tribes fought a successful war for these rich hunting, trapping, and gathering lands, pushing the Illinois both west and south.

     Following the Three Fires Confederacy, the Potawatomi remained the most visible group of Native Americans until their final removal by the United States government in 1837.  This forced removal would have widespread impact on the region.
 

Emigration

     Following the 1776 Declaration of Independence, some families on the eastern seaboard began to consider westward expansion.

     In 1778, the Illinois Country (sometimes referred to as "Illinois County") - which included what we know today as Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio - was claimed from the British by the Commonwealth of Virginia.  In 1783, Virginia ceded this wide area to the United States.  As a territory of the United States, our region was included in the Diocese of Baltimore when it was formed in 1789.  In 1808 our region was entrusted to the Diocese of Bardstown, now the Archdiocese of Louisville.

     In 1800, there were 2,000 white settlers in what was to become the state of Illinois; over half of them were of French Canadian background.  By 1830 that number had grown to 160,000 settlers.  The rush for statehood and availability of quality land offered impetus for growth.  For a decade, from 1824 to 1834, Illinois was entrusted to the Diocese of St. Louis.

     The massive migration of the early nineteenth century moved through Tennessee and Kentucky, traveling the Vincennes "trace", (also known as Hubbard's Trail), which led north through Iroquois County.  In the midst of this expansion, in 1834, our region became part of the new Diocese of Vincennes, now the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

     Bishop Simon Brute of Vincennes was the first bishop having responsibility for the pastoral care of what is today the Joliet Diocese.  He sent Father John Plunkett to be our first resident pastor at St. Patrick Parish, Joliet, in 1838.  By 1845, St. Patrick's served missions in Will, Kankakee, Grundy and DuPage counties.

     What had been a small French Canadian missionary church was becoming a booming, multicultural region of the church.  By 1850, over 3.1 million Americans would identify themselves as Catholic - Members of the largest segment of Christians in the nation.
 

Industrialization

     Rivers and trails of this region led to the building of railroads and the development of commerce.  And families of all faiths, including Catholics, came to supply the labor.  Specifically, in 1836, work began on the Illinois and Michigan canal, a massive project offering rapid water transit.  When it opened in 1848, commerce and industry between Chicago and LaSalle became a reality.  Along its route, Catholic churches were built and priests came to minister the faithful.

     The life in these mission parishes, without a resident pastor and a congregation with a common foundation, was difficult.  Emigration continued from the eastern United States, and by the mid-nineteenth century, there was an explosion of immigration from Europe.

     Most of the priests came to this region from missionary societies in Europe.  Parishes struggled with the dynamic of traveling pastors, pastors being relocated frequently and bishops working to build a united, cooperative, local church.  Parishes were stretched linguistically, with sometimes dozens of language groups requesting pastoral ministry in their native languages.
 

Propagation

     In the midst of the struggle, strength was emerging.  Beginning in 1865, the American bishops gathered for the Baltimore Council and identified the importance of strong bishops, common teaching and Catholic schools in every parish.

     The effort to develop Catholic schools, especially when resources were quite limited, both challenged and sustained communities.  Religious communities of sisters, brothers, and priests were finding their place in the life of this church by building new models for creative ministry.

     New initiatives were begun in Catholic higher education and social services.  As the American seminary system was beginning to produce diocesan priests, often from this emerging culture, local leadership became more stable.

     The earliest decades of the twentieth century would deeply impact our local and national experience of Catholicism in America.  Priests, especially those formed for ministry in America, became more plentiful and resident pastors became the norm.

     An abundance of sisters brought leadership to an excellent and expansive elementary school system, health-care system, and a substantial residential educational system.

     Strong bishops called for quality in pastoral care, and linked dioceses with discipline.  as the process of immigration unfolded, Catholics in America continued a pattern of respecting "national" ethnicity, developing national - or ethnic - parishes, educational and protective ministries.  World War I would call this pastoral direction into question and change the focus of our development as a church.

     Throughout our seven counties we were blessed with a large number of German, Alsatian, and Austrian lay people, sisters, and priests.  During World War I, anti-German sentiments were very high, and the days of German language sermons, confessions, Catholic schools, religion classes and conversation in convents and rectories came to an end.  This greatly accelerated the Americanization of our Catholic life.

     The 1920's saw an outpouring of nativist feeling which produced fairly wide Ku Klux Klan activity in our region.  Reports of the period note that KKK activity subsided as quickly as it developed; bias had, however, made its mark.

     The peace and prosperity that followed World War I was short lived.  In 1929, the shadow of the Great Depression began to settle over the United States.  The vast majority of Catholics were living in cities, laboring and already struggling financially.

     The Depression deepened the well of poverty but also provided an equalizing effect.  Catholics, long so different, were not quite as different anymore.  As well, Catholic outreach through the developing network of hospitals and protective institutions became legendary.
 

Modernization

     During World War II, Catholic life in the United States entered a new period of transition.  So that when the diocese was formed in 1948, vast changes continued to unfold, many of which continue to shape the character of this local church.  No individual or community could have been prepared for the good God would do among us.

     Following World War II, through the system of benefits offered to veterans, new homes were now available, many in the suburbs of DuPage and Will counties.  Higher education was now available through loans and grants, and veterans enrolled in record numbers at colleges and universities, including what we know today as Lewis University, Benedictine University, and the University of St. Francis.

     Catholics now freely enrolled in state-sponsored and private colleges and universities.  Through the building of new roads and commuter rail services, transportation was now available, efficiently linking the Chicago metropolitan area and all of northern Illinois.

     At the same time, farm land was becoming housing subdivisions in the north, and in the south of this new diocese, small farms were in decline.  Economic and technical challenges, joined with governmental policy, forced more and more families off the farms and into larger towns.  Consolidation of services - particularly schools and health care - brought further isolation to once thriving smaller towns.

     The Diocese of Joliet's three bishops - Bishop Martin McNamara, Bishop Romeo Blanchette, and Bishop Joseph Imesch - have each offered leadership for growth.  It would be difficult to find three bishops who were more involved with the challenges of growth during their ministries while navigating the process of rapid change.

     With each of our bishops, and our auxiliary bishops - Bishop Vonesch, Bishop Kucera, Bishop Ryan, and Bishop Kaffer - we have been greatly blessed.
 

Revitalization

     Possibly the most important event in the life of our young diocese was the gracious surprise of the Second Vatican Council and the call of that council to be a force for renewal in our world.  This renewal is an ongoing personal and communal process.

     Evidence of the continuation of this spirit of renewal is present in our diocesan experience of RENEW (1983-1986) and RENEW 2000 (1998-2001), our Diocesan Synod (1989), the formation of a representative Diocesan Pastoral Council, as well as new initiatives for evangelization, formation for ministry and planning for the future.

     Discovery, change, adventure, surprises, growth, and grace have been at the heart of the Gospel in this Diocese of Joliet since the Word was first brought to this area in the seventeenth century.

- by Father Richard Walsh, Diocese of Joliet, Illinois: 50th Anniversary 1999, East Central Communications, Inc., Rantoul, Illinois 1999

The Logo of the Diocese of Joliet

Characteristics:

Christianity, portrayed through the use of the cross;

Diversity within a common mission, portrayed through circles or links around the cross.  Seven links were used to represent the seven counties of the Diocese, with the additional interpretation of seven sacraments and the symbolic use of the number seven throughout scripture;

Locale; Selection of the French royal colors blue and maize represent the colors of the official coat of arms of the Diocese and the French ancestry of Louis Joliet for whom the See City of Joliet is named.

Logo adopted March, 1992