| Jurisdiction: | Diocese |
| Antigonish | |
| Latin: | Dioecesis Antigonicensis |
| Coat: | Coat of Arms of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.svg |
| Coat Size: | frameless |
| Country: |  Canada |
| Province: | Halifax |
| Area Km2: | 18,800 |
| Population: | 220,300 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Catholics: | 124,400 |
| Catholics Percent: | 56.5 |
| Denomination: | Catholic Church |
| Sui Iuris Church: | Latin Church |
| Rite: | Roman Rite |
| Established: | August 23, 1886 |
| Cathedral: | St. Ninian's Cathedral |
| Priests: | 74 |
| Bishop: | Wayne Joseph Kirkpatrick |
| Metro Archbishop: | Archbishop of Halifax-Yarmouth |
The Diocese of Antigonish (Latin: Dioecesis Antigonicensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in Nova Scotia, Canada. Its current diocesan ordinary is Wayne Joseph Kirkpatrick.
The Diocese was established on 22 September 1844, under the name of the Diocese of Arichat, on territory split off from the Diocese of Halifax. Its proto-cathedral (now Église Notre Dame de l’Assomption) was located on Cape Breton Island, in the port town of Arichat.
In both Scottish and Canadian folklore, the first ordinary of the Diocese, Bishop William Fraser of Strathglass, is a folk hero. He is said to have been a man of enormous physical strength and to have been able to break steel horseshoes with his bare hands. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, many legends have been collected of the Bishop's exploits.[1]
On 23 August 1886, the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Antigonish, and its episcopal see moved to St. Ninian's Cathedral, on the Nova Scotia mainland in the town of Antigonish.
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, the highly influential Antigonish Movement, which combined adult education, co-operatives, microfinance and rural community development to help small, resource-based villages throughout the Maritimes to improve their economic and social circumstances, was largely founded and led by a small group of Diocesan priests: Father James Tompkins, Father Moses Coady, and Fr. Hugh MacPherson.
In 1946, Scottish nationalist, folklorist, and scholar of Scottish Gaelic literature John Lorne Campbell was received into the Roman Catholic Church inside St. Ninian's Cathedral in Antigonish.[2] Campbell, along with his American-born musicologist wife, Margaret Fay Shaw, had previously collected much folklore and traditional music from Diocesan Catholics in both Canadian Gaelic and the indigenous Mi'kmaq language, which was recorded onto Ediphone wax cylinders.[3]
On August 7, 2009, Bishop Raymond Lahey announced that the Diocese of Antigonish had reached a $15 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by 125 victims of sexual abuse by Hugh Vincent MacDonald and other diocese priests dating from 1950 to 2009.[4] On September 26, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Bishop Raymond Lahey, one day after a warrant was issued for his arrest by the Ottawa Police Service relating to child pornography charges (cf. sexual abuse scandal in Antigonish diocese).[5] The bishop pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and was jailed.[6]
Archbishop Anthony Mancini of the Archdiocese of Halifax was named the Apostolic Administrator effective September 26, 2009, and remained in that position until the installation of Brian Dunn on January 25, 2010.[7]
The Diocese of Antigonish covers 18,800 square kilometers, comprising the counties of Pictou, Antigonish, Guysborough, Inverness, Victoria, Richmond and Cape Breton.
As of 2006, the diocese contained 123 parishes, 119 active diocesan priests, 8 religious priests, and 129,905 Catholics. It also has 290 women religious, 12 religious brothers and 1 permanent deacon. In 2012 in order to satisfy its legal obligations to pay out $15 million to the victims of sexual abuse, the diocese had to sell a large number of its lands and properties, liquidating the bank accounts of many of its churches, and borrowing $6.5 million from private lenders to make the payout.[8] [9]
Until 2015, the Bishop of Antigonish served ex officio as Chancellor of St. Francis Xavier University.
Diocese of Antigonish . Alexander . MacDonald . 1.