Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Des Moines

Desmoinen(sis)

The Diocese of Des Moines is a Latin Rite diocese covering 23 counties in southwestern Iowa. Erected in 1911, it is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Dubuque and is led by Bishop William M. Joensen.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
12 August 1911
Latin
Desmoinen(sis)
Patron
Mary, Queen of Heaven; Pope Pius X
Annuario code
001001292

The see in figures

Catholics
103,430
Population
837,773
Catholic share
12.3%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
111
Catholics per priest
932
Extent
32,235 km²
Catholics per km²
3.2

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
William M. Joensen
Born
8 July 1960
Birthplace
Waterloo

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

St. Ambrose Cathedral stands in Des Moines, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Dubuque

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Dubuque.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Southwestern Iowa in the United States forms the Diocese of Des Moines (Latin: Diœcesis Desmoinensis), a Catholic suffragan see within the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque. St. Ambrose in Des Moines serves as the cathedral, and William Joensen is bishop.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].