Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange

Holy Family Cathedral in Orange was the diocese's first cathedral.

The Catholic presence in present-day Orange County dates to the 1776 establishment of Mission San Juan Capistrano, a Spanish mission founded by Father Junipero Serra and the Franciscan order. At the time the region was part of the Las Californias province of New Spain. In 1804 present-day Orange County became part of Alta California when Las Californias was split in two; Alta California then became part of Mexico when the latter gained independence from Spain in 1821. From the mission the missionary priests set out to convert the native population to Catholicism; over 4,000 people were converted between 1776 and 1847.

In 1840, the Holy See erected the Diocese of the Two Californias to recognize the growth of the provinces of Alta California and Baja California. This diocese – with its episcopal see located in Monterey – included all Mexican territory west of the Colorado River and the Gulf of California (the modern U.S. states of California and Nevada, and parts of Utah, Arizona, and Colorado, as well as the modern Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur).

After Mexico ceded Alta California to the United States in 1848, after the Mexican–American War, the Mexican government objected to an American bishop having jurisdiction over parishes in Mexican Baja California. The Holy See split the diocese into American and Mexican sections, and the American section was renamed the Diocese of Monterey. In 1859, the diocese became known as the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles to recognize the growth of the city of Los Angeles; the see was transferred to Los Angeles in 1876. In 1922, the diocese split again, and Orange County became part of the newly erected Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego, which became the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1936.

Orange County remained part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles until March 24, 1976, when Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of Orange. Los Angeles auxiliary bishop William Robert Johnson was appointed the first Bishop of Orange; the existing Holy Family Church in Orange was designated as cathedral of the new diocese. The diocese has grown rapidly as the local population has swelled with Catholic immigrants from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Latin America, and in 2010 claimed a Catholic population of over 1.2 million.

At the mandatory retirement age, Bishop Tod David Brown retired on September 21, 2012. The Holy See named Bishop Kevin Vann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth to succeed him.[2][3]

Coat of arms of the Diocese prior to 2012

The lists of ordinaries and auxiliaries of the diocese and their years of service:

Christ Cathedral, formerly Crystal Cathedral, underwent renovations to be used by the Diocese of Orange

In 2001, Bishop Brown first announced plans to build a new cathedral to succeed the Cathedral of the Holy Family. However, soon after, the Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandal burst into the diocese, and Brown deemed it "inappropriate" to raise funds for a new cathedral in light of the scandal.[5] In 2005, the diocese purchased land in south Santa Ana and established Christ Our Savior Cathedral Parish, with the intention of someday building a cathedral on the property.[5] The cost of building a cathedral on the Santa Ana site was estimated to be as high as $200 million, which prompted comparisons to the cost of building the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.[6]

In October 2010, Crystal Cathedral Ministries, the Protestant congregation that owned and worshiped in the eponymous Crystal Cathedral building in Garden Grove, filed for bankruptcy protection.[7] Several months later, the diocese announced that it was "potentially interested" in buying the building and converting it into a diocesan cathedral as a potential cost and time-saving alternative over building a new cathedral on the Santa Ana site.[8]

On November 17, 2011, a U.S. bankruptcy court judge in Santa Ana approved the sale of the Crystal Cathedral building and adjacent campus to the diocese for $57.5 million;[9] the sale was finalized on February 3, 2012.[10][11] At that time, the diocese ended all efforts at building a cathedral on the Santa Ana site and removed "Cathedral" from Christ Our Savior Parish's name, repurposing it as a diocesan parish church. On June 9, 2012, the diocese announced that the Crystal Cathedral would be known as "Christ Cathedral" when it becomes the new seat of the diocese.[12] The building's new name was designated by the Holy See, while suggestions were also taken from the diocese and its members.[13]

In 2014, following its purchase of the site, the diocese announced plans to renovate the Crystal Cathedral in order to suit the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church, whilst maintaining the building's architectural qualities. Construction for the $72 million project began in June 2017, and was completed in 2019.[14][15][16][17][18]

In June 2013, the diocese officially transferred St. Callistus Parish to the Crystal Cathedral campus, and the parish began to hold Mass on the campus. At the same time Crystal Cathedral Ministries moved to St. Callistus' former facility, located one mile from the Crystal Cathedral, which the diocese offered to lease to Crystal Cathedral Ministries as a term of the sale of the Crystal Cathedral campus. St. Callistus' parish school was transferred to the former Crystal Cathedral Academy facility and renamed Christ Cathedral Academy in September 2013.

The diocese oversees 31 parochial elementary schools and 3 high schools; additionally, 3 independent Catholic elementary schools and 4 independent Catholic high schools (i.e., run by a religious order or independent Board of Trustees) are located in the diocese.

• Catholic Church by country
• Hierarchy of the Catholic Church
• List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States

• Official website
• Orange Catholic Foundation, endowment fund